Cath Staincliffe
The first fruit of Cath’s three-book deal with Constable & Robinson is published on 22nd April: The Kindest Thing is a love story, a modern nightmare and an honest and incisive portrayal of a woman who honours her husband’s wish to die and finds herself in the dock for murder.
When Deborah reluctantly helps her beloved husband Neil end his life and conceals the truth, she is charged with murder. As the trial unfolds and her daughter Sophie testifies against her, Deborah, still reeling with grief, fights to defend her actions. Twelve jurors hold her fate in their hands, if found guilty she will serve a life sentence. Deborah seeks solace in her memories of Neil and their children and the love they shared. An ordinary woman caught up in an extraordinary situation.
A finely written page-turner, compelling, eloquent, heart-breaking. The Kindest Thing tackles a controversial topic with skill and sensitivity. A book that begs the question: what would you do?
Cath Staincliffe is the author of the acclaimed Sal Kilkenny mysteries. Looking for Trouble launched private eye Sal, a single parent struggling to juggle work and home, onto Manchester’s mean streets. Missing, the seventh title was published in June 2007.
Cath is also a scriptwriter, creator of ITV's hit police series, Blue Murder, which returned to the small screen in 2009 for Series 5 with six new episodes featuring DCI Janine Lewis, played by Caroline Quentin, and team.
Cath's second radio play, Legacy was the afternoon play on Radio 4 on October 12th 2009. Struggling heir-hunters, brother and sister Rachel and Dan Curtis find their latest quest takes them to Australia and to a shameful episode in the history of the Commonwealth.
Cath has twice been short-listed for CWA Daggers and is a winner of Le Masque de l’Année. Trio, a stand-alone novel moves away from crime to explore adoption and growing up in the 1960s. Cath is an avid reader and reviews for Tangled Web and Deadly Pleasures. She lives in Manchester with her partner and their three children.
The Chief Superintendent and The Screenwriter
Listen to Det. Supt. Patsy Wood and Cath Staincliffe talk to Jenni Murray on BBC Woman's Hour about working together on ITV's Blue Murder series.
More about Cath Staincliffe
FAQs: Time and again at readings or book launches the same questions come up. Here are ten of them and my answers.
A Day in the Life: Cath describes a typical day.
Missing
‘People disappear every day. Most of them choose to. Have you ever been tempted?’ Sal Kilkenny has just found one person when another two go missing: mother Janet Florin failed to pick her children up from school and hasn’t been seen since; and asylum seeker Berfan has disappeared in Manchester. Meanwhile as summer kicks into gear, the temperature is notched up on the domestic front when Sal’s housemate Ray wants to share much more than the chores.
Missing (Allison & Busby, hardback publication: June 2007) ISBN 978-0-7490-8025-9
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Hit and Run
A corpse in the river, a child mown down, a fugitive slaughtered - three untimely deaths means three murder investigations - unless, of course, they are all part of the same case...Life is tough as a cop at the top - and tougher still with a new baby at home - but DCI Janine Lewis is used to balancing her home life with the challenges of bringing killers to justice. Starting back at work after maternity leave, Janine finds herself in the thick of two major investigations. The badly battered body of a young woman is recovered from the River Mersey and a schoolgirl is killed in a hit and run. As Janine and her team fight to unravel the story behind each death, she struggles with equally demanding dramas at home.
Hit and Run (Allison & Busby, published: November 2006) ISBN 978-0-7490-8176-8
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Read an extract from Hit and Run.
Blue Murder: Cry Me a River
Janine Lewis is a pregnant, single mother whose life has become rather hectic. As well as juggling three lively children single-handed, she has ruffled a few feathers by becoming Greater Manchester's first female Detective Chief Inspector. At last, Janine has been given her first murder enquiry to head. The body of a local deputy head teacher is found with a slashed stomach and left to die. With a suspect on the run, an elderly dying man and a seven-year-old child as the only available witnesses, Janine knows this won't be an easy case to crack.
Blue Murder: Cry Me a River (Allison & Busby, published: July 2004) ISBN 978-0-7490-8335-9
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Read an extract from Blue Murder.
Bitter Blue
On her first day back after the Easter break Manchester based Private Investigator, Sal Kilkenny takes on two new cases. The first is to discover who is sending offensive poison pen letters to hotel receptionist Lucy Barker. The second is surveillance work for a couple who want reassuring that there are no nuisance neighbours or criminal activity in the area they're planning to buy a new home.
As Sal prepares to stake out the streets a bitter cold snap plunges the country into arctic conditions. Her stress levels are not helped by the escalation of the campaign against Lucy Barker and her inability to nail the perpetrator who maddeningly avoids capture. Plus there's trouble at home as Sal's daughter Maddie seems unable to settle at school. When Sal's normally mundane surveillance duties bring her face to face with a grim discovery and violent crime she's sure that it just can't get any worse before it gets better. Unluckily for Sal there is more than one surprise in store for her and a nightmarish sequence of events may well turn out to be a matter of life and death...
Bitter Blue (Allison & Busby, published: May 2003) ISBN 978-0-7490-8171-3
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Read an extract from Bitter Blue.
- Earlier crime novels
- Towers Of Silence
Stone Cold Red Hot
Dead Wrong
Go Not Gently
Looking For Trouble
Trio
A compelling and perceptive story of adoption, motherhood, love, loss and the search for identity. 1960, Manchester. The Pope has banned Catholics from watching unsafe TV, Kennedy is to run for the US presidency, the government is considering a bill to curb the activities of Teddy Boys and Cliff Richard is the latest heart-throb. Three young Catholic women find themselves pregnant and unmarried. Three hopeful mothers-to-be, approved by the Adoption Society wait for news that will tell them a child is available. Three little girls are born, relinquished and placed with their adoptive families. Trio follows the lives of these mothers and daughters over the ensuing years.
Trio (Fresh Press, p/b) ISBN 978-0-9548301-0-6
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Read more about Trio, including an extract.
‘Staincliffe turns part Marge Piercy, part Rosamunde Pilcher ... a captivating story filled with tears, tragedy, humour, and happiness’
Booklist
‘Poignant and true to life. I couldn't put it down; I really wanted to know what happened to the characters’
Maureen Crank, MBE, Chief Executive and founder member of After Adoption
