Carla Banks, who also writes as Danuta Reah, lives in South Yorkshire. Her books range from the urban communities of South Yorkshire to the international stage. Crime runs in the family: one of her ancestors was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1646 for his religious beliefs.

Her latest books are Bleak Water, which explores the links between art and madness, The Forest of Souls, which looks at the consequences of Nazi atrocities in Eastern Europe, and Strangers (January 2007) set in the ex-pat community in Saudi Arabia. In 2005 she won the CWA Short Story Dagger for No Flies on Frank and, in 2006, she was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library.

After a career in teaching, Lesley Horton began her first crime novel in 1996. The break came at the Winchester Conference when an agent read the first page of the manuscript, took the rest home and by the following Wednesday had agreed to represent her.

That novel, Snares of Guilt, was published by Orion in 2002. It was followed in 2003 by On Dangerous Ground.

The third, Devils in the Mirror, was published in 2005 and her fourth, The Hollow Core, came out in December 2006. Her books are described as gritty police procedurals.

Lesley Horton was shortlisted for the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2006.

Born in Yorkshire and brought up in South Wales, Priscilla Masters is the author of eight Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy novels set in the moorlands of Staffordshire, the latest of which, Wings over the Watcher, has just been published in paperback by Allison & Busby.

She is also the creator of coroner Martha Gunn, set in the medieval town of Shrewsbury. Slip Knot is the second in the series, published by Allison & Busby in April 2007.

She is the author of four medical standalone mysteries, the latest of which, a Plea of Insanity, is set in a secure psychiatric unit in Stoke on Trent. She lives in Staffordshire and works part time as a nurse.

Zoë Sharp spent most of her childhood living aboard a catamaran on the northwest coast of England. She opted out of mainstream education at the age of twelve and became a freelance photo-journalist in 1988.

First Drop, book four in her acclaimed crime thriller series featuring her ex-soldier turned bodyguard heroine, Charlie Fox, was shortlisted for the Barry award in 2005.

Book six in the series, Second Shot  − set in New England − was published in September 2007 by Allison & Busby.

Charlie has been described as 'today's best action heroine,' by Lee Child, and 'the must-read heroine of mystery' by Ken Bruen.

Zoë Sharp lives in Cumbria where she and her husband have just built their own house.