A crime festival trip starts with the conversations you most want to hear. A dedicated weekend lets you follow the genre across several events; a crime strand at a wider festival leaves more room for other reading interests. Neither requires you to fill every hour. Choose a few sessions, allow time to eat and browse, and decide how you will get back after the last talk. This guide compares Harrogate, Bloody Scotland and Capital Crime in London, then looks at crime writing elsewhere in our festival guides. The earlier programmes and author profiles describe 2026 events, not promised guests for 2027.
The dedicated crime festivals
Harrogate: a weekend around the Old Swan
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is the specialist choice in Harrogate. Its next published dates are 22–25 July 2027. The Old Swan Hotel gives you a specific point around which to compare accommodation, railway arrival and your event choices. Start with the official programme when choosing tickets; a past appearance does not mean the same writer will return. A room elsewhere in town may suit your plans, but check its address against the stage or room on each booking.
The Harrogate visitor guide brings together the programme, box office, access information and day plans. For accommodation, compare Swan Road, the town centre and Knaresborough. Those are different trip choices: put any daily transfers into the budget before deciding that a room farther away costs less overall. If a late event is essential, settle the return first.
Bloody Scotland: crime writing in Stirling
Bloody Scotland’s published 2027 dates are 17–19 September. The Stirling setting gives you a different starting point: compare the venues on your tickets, not a single festival gate. The guide covers Albert Halls, the Golden Lion and other programme locations, with venue-specific access information. Leave breathing space between sessions if they use different buildings. You can make a satisfying day from one or two conversations and a meal without trying to book the whole programme.
Use the Bloody Scotland guide for the official programme and Stirling stay guide for King Street, the Old Town and Bridge of Allan. Think about the route after dark as well as your arrival from Stirling station. Accommodation, train and event bookings are separate purchases; keep their change and cancellation conditions together so one altered plan does not catch you out elsewhere.
Harrogate or Bloody Scotland?
| Festival | Dates | Town and venue | Rail arrival | Programme and trip fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival | 22–25 July 2027 · four days | Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate | Harrogate | Dedicated crime writing; build a weekend around the official programme. Day plans |
| Bloody Scotland | 17–19 September 2027 · three days | Stirling town venues, including Albert Halls and Golden Lion | Stirling | Dedicated crime writing; build a weekend around the official programme. Day plans |
| Capital Crime | 28–30 May 2027 · three days | The Brewery, London | Barbican, Moorgate or Liverpool Street | Crime and thriller conversations; plan your visit |
Read the comparison as a way to choose a visit, not as a quality ranking. Harrogate puts a crime-writing trip around the Old Swan setting; Stirling asks you to think about several town venues. July and September may also suit very different diaries. The strongest reason to choose either is the actual programme you want to hear. Once it appears, compare your essential sessions with travel, access and room options before adding extra talks.
Compare rooms for Harrogate
Compare rooms for Stirling
The searches are a starting point for comparing rooms. Read the rate conditions, check the property’s exact address and ask about any essential room feature. A town search does not promise walking access to your event or reserve a room at a displayed price.
Crime at the wider festivals
Cheltenham gives you crime alongside other kinds of books and ideas. Its 2026 programme highlights let you see the kind of conversation that took place, while the 2027 programme page separates the next edition from that history. Choose it if your group has several reading interests and wants to plan different sessions before meeting again. Compare the precise venues before agreeing on a lunch or end-of-day meeting point.
Edinburgh offers another city-based alternative. Look at the crime conversations in the guide, then read the venue and access sections for the sessions you actually select. A city break may give your group more ways to spend the gaps, but those outings still need their own time. Keep the book festival as the anchor if that is the reason for travelling; do not make every interval depend on a hurried crossing of the city.
Bath is worth comparing when you want literary conversations within a wider city visit. Its past programme is a view of an earlier edition, not a list of future guests. Keep the spring literature festival separate from Bath’s autumn children’s festival when choosing dates and rooms. The guide links to the official box office, which should be your source for the next programme and individual event terms.
Wigtown combines a book-town stay with a broader festival programme. Start with its 2026 highlights, then decide whether the journey and the length of stay suit you. The onward connection from rail needs attention before you buy an inflexible fare. A shared-transfer enquiry is not a confirmed service. Staying close to the events may help your own plans, but check the room and venue addresses rather than relying on the town name alone.
More crime festivals
Capital Crime’s next announced edition is in May: 28–30 May 2027, at The Brewery in London. The crime and thriller festival has published its official 2027 information; use it for the programme and tickets.
Sources checked: 27 October 2026. Capital Crime and Granite Noir’s organiser confirm their 2027 and 2026 editions respectively.
Granite Noir brings crime writing to Aberdeen, usually in February. VisitAberdeenshire describes its February 2026 edition; use Aberdeen Performing Arts for the next programme before booking. It is a further option to investigate through the regional directory. Check the next dates on the organiser’s website before booking.
More places to look
The regional directory and calendar are the next places to look beyond these guides. They distinguish wider directory festivals from the festivals with full visitor guides here. Follow the organiser’s own website for its current edition before arranging travel. Do not treat a familiar festival name or usual month as confirmation of next year’s dates. If the journey matters more than a particular speaker, begin with your region, then compare the official programmes that fit your diary.
Crime writers in the 2026 programmes
These profiles connect the writers’ books with past festival events. Each profile gives its own event sources and distinguishes earlier conversations from later scheduled appearances. The grid is for discovering writers and following past programmes; it is not a prediction of the 2027 line-ups.
Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin’s festival audience includes readers who have spent years in the company of John Rebus and people meeting his fiction through a new thriller.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Val McDermid
A Val McDermid festival visit can begin with the investigator you keep returning to, or with the wish to follow her into a new story. Her 2026 conversations moved between crime and historical fiction.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Festival.
Ann Cleeves
For readers who become attached to a detective, Ann Cleeves offers several worlds to return to.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Henley Literary Festival.
Lee Child
If Jack Reacher is the reason you keep making room for one more thriller, a Lee Child conversation offers time with the writer who created him. His 2026 visits took him to Bloody Scotland and Cheltenham.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Mick Herron
Mick Herron’s readers come for espionage, damaged careers and the company of characters who are hard to forget. Some arrive through the books, others through television.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Christopher Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre brings crime plotting and comic writing together. Long-time readers may come for a reunion with Jack Parlabane; newcomers can arrive through one of the standalones.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bath Literature Festival, Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Wigtown Book Festival.
Jane Harper
Jane Harper’s crime fiction draws readers into places where a death or disappearance unsettles an entire community. Fans can come to a festival through the Aaron Falk books, a standalone mystery or a screen adaptation.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bath Literature Festival, Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Lucy Foley
Lucy Foley writes mysteries for readers who love a setting full of secrets and a group of people who cannot quite trust one another.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Durham Book Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Abir Mukherjee
Abir Mukherjee gives crime readers two worlds to explore: historical investigations in Raj-era India and contemporary thrillers.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Elly Griffiths
For an Elly Griffiths reader, the attraction can begin with an investigator you would happily follow anywhere. Her books range from forensic archaeology and historical mysteries to a detective who travels through time.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Doug Johnstone
Doug Johnstone’s readers can travel from Edinburgh funeral homes to an encounter with extraterrestrial life.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Wigtown Book Festival.
Liz Nugent
Liz Nugent writes psychological suspense about people whose actions leave damage behind them. Fans come for the unsettling characters as well as the mystery: a person can become the question at the heart of the book.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bath Literature Festival, Bloody Scotland, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Hay Festival.
Harriet Tyce
Harriet Tyce’s thrillers put trust under pressure: in a courtroom, a friendship or a life that is beginning to unravel.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Henley Literary Festival, Wigtown Book Festival.
Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware’s suspense gives readers plenty to argue about once they can put the book down: whom to trust, what a narrator has missed and how danger grows inside a familiar place.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Cheltenham Literature Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Richard Osman
Richard Osman’s crime novels invite readers to return for the people as well as the mystery. Fans can follow a familiar group of amateur detectives or join a newer team on another case.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bloody Scotland, Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Anthony Horowitz
For a reader who loves a carefully laid clue, hearing Anthony Horowitz is a chance to spend time with the person who puts the puzzle together.
Featured in the 2026 programme at Bath Literature Festival, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Plan a crime weekend
For Harrogate, choose a conversation you would travel for, then one contrasting session from the official programme. Leave a proper meal break and decide whether a further evening event fits your energy and return journey. Use the guide’s day plans as a starting point, adjusting the sequence to the actual event times. A book signing, if listed, belongs in the same schedule rather than being squeezed into a transfer.
For Stirling, start by plotting the buildings for your first and final sessions. Add time to leave one room, move between venues and find the next entrance. Agree a meeting place if your group separates. The Bloody Scotland day plans and access information help you ask practical questions before booking. For both trips, a shorter programme that fits comfortably is better than spending the weekend worrying about the next connection.