Crime Central at Central Library

Crime Central steps back out of the shadows to welcome the authors Suzy Aspley, Nick Quantrill and Eve Smith to Central Library. Hosted by Rob Parker, Manchester Libraries’ mostly monthly event showcases emerging and regional talent alongside blockbuster bestselling authors from further afield, offering audience members a glimpse inside their minds – don’t have nightmares!

And if you think crime doesn’t pay, think again – we didn’t even bother to tell you about the Stockport Noir festival at the start of the month because it had already sold out by the time we got wind of it from one of our contacts back in 2024. One of the Crime Central guests, Eve Smith, concurs: “There’s a fabulous crime writing and reading community in Manchester!”

She will be travelling north from Oxfordshire for her first event of the year to read from her latest speculative thriller, The Cure, out in April and following One, Off Target and The Waiting Rooms. She joins the crime fiction panel alongside South Shields-born Suzy Aspley, whose chilling gothic debut Crow Moon was shortlisted for multiple awards last year, and Hull-based Nick Quantrill, author of the Joe Gerachty thrillers and co-founder of the Hull Noir crime writing festival.

The three will be hosted by Rob Parker, whose recently released thriller, The Troubled Deep, has been garnering rave reviews. He is the author of ten other novels including the Thirty Miles Trilogy and the Ben Bracken thrillers, Crook’s Hollow and the Audible bestseller Far From The Tree, and he co-hosts the For Your Reconsideration film podcast. So far, Rob has welcomed to Crime Central the likes of Lesley Kara, Sunday Times Top Ten author, Russ Thomas, Sunday Times bestselling author of the DS Adam Tyler series, and Costa Book Award-winning Stuart Turton.

The monthly events also give you the chance to turn sleuth and ask your own questions to the panel of experts; expect insider info, anecdotes and laughs, audience interaction, giveaways and book signings – signed books will be available to purchase after the event.

For more information about libraries in Manchester, check out our guide here.