Saturday, 6th September

Price per ticket: €27.95
Boat in: 12.30pm | Return: 5pm

In Cold Blood

Nadine Matheson, Amy Jordan & Stuart Neville with Edel Coffey

Join three masters of crime fiction — Nadine Matheson, Amy Jordan, and Stuart Neville — for a gripping exploration of murder, morality, and the minds behind the mayhem.

In conversation with journalist and author Edel Coffey, this panel delves into the dark heart of crime writing: what draws us to the genre, how real-world violence influences fiction, and why we can’t look away.

Expect insight, intrigue, and a few chills as these acclaimed writers discuss the art of crafting compelling thrillers that hold up a mirror to society’s most unsettling truths.

Close to Home

Andrea Mara, Michelle Dunne & C.L. Taylor with Sam Blake

Join bestselling crime writers Andrea Mara, Michelle Dunne, and C.L. Taylor for an unmissable conversation exploring the darkness that lurks just beneath the surface of everyday life.

From domestic suspense to psychological thrillers, these acclaimed authors delve into the secrets, fears, and tensions that unfold close to home.

Chaired by fellow author Sam Blake, this gripping panel will uncover how ordinary settings can become the backdrop for extraordinary crimes—and why the most chilling stories are often the ones that hit closest to home.

Expect thrilling insights and a behind the scenes look at building suspense.

 

Sam Blake

Sam Blake is a multiple No 1 bestselling Irish crime writer and has been shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year three times, and twice for Irish Teen and YA Novel of the Year.

Her second YA novel, Something’s About to Blow Up was Winner of the International Education Services Teen & YA Novel of the Year 2024. Her latest adult thriller, The Killing Sense, came out in January 2025 and is a No 1 bestseller.

Follow Sam on social @samblakebooks or find out more at www.samblakebooks.com, where you can join her Reader’s Club and receive her adult thriller High Pressure for free. Sam is the founder of Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival, Murder One.

She is currently Chair of the board of the Society of Authors, and previously was Chair of Irish PEN and a board member of the Crime Writers Association.

Edel Coffey

Edel Coffey is an Irish novelist and journalist.

She has worked as an editor with the Irish Independent, and as a reporter and presenter with RTE Radio. She is a regular contributor to The Irish Times, and Books Editor with The Gloss magazine.
Both of her novels have been number one bestsellers in Ireland and her debut novel Breaking Point won the An Post Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction Book Of The Year in 2022. Her third novel will be published next year.

Michelle Dunne

Michelle Dunne is a bestselling psychological thriller writer from Cork whose new thriller, A GOOD MOTHER, came out to rave reviews in April 25.

Michelle also wrote The Hotel Maid and The Good Girl, which saw its Czech language edition chosen as one of the 12 most exciting books to publish in Czech Republic in 2025. It launched in March at the annual Big Book Thursday event in Prague.

Michelle also wrote the Lindsey Ryan series of psychological thrillers, While Nobody is Watching and The Invisible. The series is currently in development for television and is inspired by Michelle’s own experiences as an infantry soldier and United Nations Peacekeeper.

Michelle is organiser and programmer of the Spike Island Literary Festival – a crime-themed festival set in Ireland’s very own Alcatraz. In 2024 she also joined the team at Dublin’s international crime writing festival, Murder One.

Amy Jordan

Amy Jordan lives with her husband and young children in Cork, Ireland. The Dark Hours is her international debut with HQ Stories, HarperCollins. It was also released in North America and Canada with Mira Books, and reviewed by The New York Times, who said “Jordan…writes Julia with particular fire, bringing us a woman who has chosen invisibility but who cannot escape what once made her visible.” Soon to be published in Germany with Piper Verlag, The Dark Hours was an instant Irish Times bestseller.

Previously writing as Amy Cronin, she released three crime thrillers with Irish publisher Poolbeg Press. Amy is a former civil servant and tutor at MTU, who now writes full time.

Andrea Mara

Andrea Mara is a number one Sunday Times, Irish Times and Kindle bestselling author, whose books have sold more than 750,000 copies across all formats.

Her most recent novel, Someone in the Attic, was a Sunday Times, Irish Times and Kindle bestseller. Her previous book, No One Saw a Thing, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. She has been shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year for five of her books.

The TV adaptation of her 2021 book, All Her Fault, is in production, with Sarah Snook (Succession) playing the lead. Andrea lives in Dublin with her husband and three children.

Nadine Matheson

Nadine Matheson was born and raised in Deptford and now practises as a criminal defence lawyer. She won the City University Crime Writing competition, and she has an MA in Creative Writing.

The Jigsaw Man was her first crime novel and was loved by readers around the world. It was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader and the Adult Diverse Book Awards in 2022 and it has been translated into fifteen languages.

Nadine is also the host of the podcast, The Conversation with Nadine Matheson.

Stuart Neville

Stuart Neville’s debut novel, THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST (published in the UK and Ireland as THE TWELVE), won the Mystery/Thriller category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was picked as one of the top crime novels of 2009 by both the New York Times and the LA Times. He has been shortlisted for various awards, including the MWA Edgar, CWA Dagger, Theakstons Old Peculier Novel of the Year, Barry, Macavity, Dilys awards, as well as the Irish Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year.

He has since published eleven more critically acclaimed books, two of which were under the pen name Haylen Beck. In 2020, he published his first short story collection, THE TRAVELLER AND OTHER STORIES. BLOOD LIKE MINE, the first in a new horror series, was published in 2024 and choses as one of the best horror novels of the year by the New York Times, and has also been long- and short-listed for multiple awards. The sequel, BLOOD LIKE OURS, will publish in 2025.

C.L. Taylor

C.L. Taylor is an award winning Sunday Times bestselling author of ten gripping psychological thrillers including EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick for autumn 2024, THE GUILTY COUPLE, (Richard and Judy Book Club 2023) and SLEEP (Richard and Judy Book Club 2019).

Her books have sold over two million copies in the UK alone, hit number one on Amazon Kindle, Audible, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play, and have been translated into over 30 languages and optioned for TV.