Dive into the dark, twisting worlds of contemporary crime fiction with three gripping voices at Spike Island Literary Festival.

Amanda Cassidy and Michelle McDonagh explore the hidden truths, tangled secrets, and the lies that define their characters.

Join this compelling conversation to uncover how deception drives narrative tension and reveals the human condition in thrilling, unforgettable ways.

Amanda Cassidy

Amanda Cassidy is an Irish Times bestselling author, commissioning editor and former Sky News reporter.

Her debut novel, Breaking, was shortlisted for the 2023 CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award, while her second novel, The Returned received widespread critical praise. The Perfect Place, Amanda’s third novel, published last year and was an instant Irish Times bestseller. She is a frequent contributor to national radio, print, and television, and holds a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin.

When she’s not on a plane, you’ll find her in her cottage in Dublin where she lives with her family. The Stranger Inside, Amanda’s latest novel, will be published in August 2025.

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.

Fiona Gartland

Fiona Gartland is a crime writer and journalist from Dublin. Her latest psychological suspense novel, Under Her Care, is due for publication in April 2026 with Bloodhound Books.

She’s had a trilogy of thrillers published by Poolbeg, and has had short stories broadcast on RTÉ Radio and published in magazines, including literary quarterly, The Stinging Fly.

She worked for The Irish Times for 17 years where she focused on family law and crime court coverage, going on to become assistant news editor and then features section editor with the publication. She is married, with four grown-up children, enjoys long walks, great reads, and singing for fun.

Patricia Gibney

Patricia Gibney is a crime fiction author from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland.

Her debut novel, The Missing Ones, was published by London based digital publisher, Bookouture, in March 2017.

To date fifteen Detective Lottie Parker books have been published in the series. More than 2.5 million Lottie Parker books have sold to date and has been translated into multiple languages.

Michelle McDonagh

Michelle McDonagh is the author of three rural noir novels. Her bestselling debut There’s Something I Have To Tell You was published in 2023, and her second bestseller Somebody Knows was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards in 2024. Her third book Some of This Is True was published in June 2025.

A journalist by trade and a native of Galway, Michelle now lives in Blarney, where she is married with three children and a very cute cavapoo.

Gill Perdue

Gill Perdue is the author of bestselling crime novel If I Tell which was nominated for Crime Novel of the Year in the An Post Book Awards 2022. If I Tell is the first in the Shaw and Darmody series of crime thrillers published by Penguin, set in the fictional Dublin suburb of Clonchapel, followed by, When They See Me.

Her hotly-anticipated third novel, The Night I Killed Him, came out in July 2025 with Marian Keys declaring it: ‘utterly UTTERLY magnificent!’

Gill lives in Rathfarnham with two rescue cats, one of which walks over her laptop when she’s working, and a mostly genial husband who makes good coffee.

Michelle Teahan

Michelle’s debut novel GO SEEK was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood/John Creasey Dagger and is under option to a top tier US producer and studio.

Her follow up novel KNOCK KNOCK was published in June 2024. Michelle is a qualified Medical Scientist but her passion has always been writing stories. She uses her writing to turn her greatest fears into fiction and creating female characters who are equipped to deal with them.

She lives in County Cork, Ireland with her husband, two young daughters and a giant ginger cat.