We have a team of lovely authors who write for us
Each of our authors has taken the time to craft a wonderful murder mystery story just for you.
Each author writes slightly differently and if you’ve found an author you like – you may want to try a few more of their games.
Lissa Scott
Lissa used to be a drama teacher and has also run an amateur dramatic group, which is how she became involved in writing for Red Herring Games. She likes creating characters that people enjoy acting and building up scenes that audiences find amusing to watch. Her love of detective fiction also makes it fun devising plots and clues.
She is now a vicar, which is probably why several of her games include eccentric clergy!
Michelle Crowther
Michelle Crowther decided for her 40th birthday that she wanted to have a murder mystery party, so she wrote one for her friends. She’s been writing them ever since. She particularly likes subverting the past and dressing up in fabulous dresses.
Elspeth Futcher
Elspeth is a member of the Wet Ink Collective, an association for female theatre professionals who also write. She has written events which have taken place in Japan, the US and Canada as well for many private clients around the world. She has over 25 years experience designing murder mysteries and events to order as well as several games retailed through Red Herring Games.
Tony Brown
I wrote my first poem at age nine. It was called “Beasts of Field and Forest” and consisted of five verses about Foxes, Badgers, Rabbits, Mice and others. I showed it to my school teacher who promised to get it published. I never heard anything more about it.
Since then I have written many more poems mostly humorous or nostalgic reflections on life in general.
When into my thirties I started writing pantomimes, eleven in total, all of which I produced and directed. Nine of them were entered into the Somerset Fellowship of Drama “Cinderella Cup Competition”. All nine received various awards including “Best original script”.
After I retired and moved to live in Spain I discovered “Red Herring” and have been fortunate to have three Murder Mysteries accepted and published.
In common with most creative writers I promise one day to write a full length novel. So far a viable plot eludes me. Maybe it’s in there somewhere. I am, however three quarters of the way through an autobiography which I hope to finish soon.
Danny Hamilton
“I first experienced a Red Herring Murder Mystery in a cottage in the Lake District. I was worried I’d gone over the top with my dressing up, but then found everyone else had done the same! We had a great time, though I didn’t work out who did it. I like puzzles, and got to thinking about how such a game was constructed, and before long was half way towards writing my own, based on pop music. This was followed by a game for children, and one for stag parties. Since then we’ve had our own child, which has put a halt to any further writing, and I make do with watching a lot of episodes of Poirot.”
Kit Walkham
Kit Walkham lives in a market town in south west England, with plenty of country walks, community activities and local food to enjoy. Her parents encouraged her to solve puzzles and ask questions – helpful in in a career making sense of numbers and in inventing mysteries for Red Herring.
She has a wide interest in theatre, and has been involved in amateur productions from murder mysteries to a Passion Play. She has written stage plays on themes including memory, migration and change. Her favourite crime writer is Dorothy L Sayers.
Paul Fairhall
Paul has supplied a variety of voices for Red Herring Games mysteries as well as working with us as an editor since the firm launched in 2007. He loves creating characters, but isn’t so sure of his ability to create the actual game structure, so all Paul’s games are co-authored with Jo Smedley. Paul provides the scenario and characters and Jo creates the plot to bring it all together.
Kathy Roberson
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Tracy Latham
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Games by Tracy Latham
Mark and Kathy Pitchford
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Games by Mark and Cathy Pitchford:
David Bland
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Liz Jennings
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Gordon Thorburn
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Games by Gordon Thorburn
Julieta Mitnik
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Games by Julieta Mitnik:
Josie Beckitt
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Games by Josie Beckitt
Iustin Filip Mucenic
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Games by Iustin Filip Mucenic:
John Waterhouse
John started writing in 2001 after taking part in a Murder Mystery game and deciding to have a go at writing one himself. Having had a lifelong love of 60’s and 70’s British comedy, it was not long before John decided to try playwriting as well and this led to joining Writers’ Lab at the Coliseum Theatre, Oldham and Primary Creations at the Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester; both of which helped in developing the craft of script writing. The Scriptworks playreading group at the Contact Theatre, Manchester also became a valuable source for honing work. In addition to urder Mysteries, John has writen eleven full-length plays, as well as a few novels, which have been performed as far afield as Glasgow, Luxembourg and Lisbon.
Games by John Waterhouse
Jacqui Gardener
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Games by Jacqui Gardener:
Jo Smedley
Jo is the Managing Director of Red Herring Games, member of the International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers Association. Her first full length novel “The Missing Witness” was published by Endeavour Press in 2017. She has written events for the Agatha Christie Festival, Crime Con, Celebrities and lots of private clients. She has over 15 years experience designing murder mystery games and events to order and has written over 90 murder mystery games retailed through our website.
Want to write for us?
We used to accept new authors “sight unseen” but found we were spending literally HOURS proofreading, checking, commenting and feeding back to get games into the right format for our customers. This wasn’t cost effective use our our time, and in many ways it would have been quicker for us to write all new games ourselves!
We now offer a mentoring scheme to new writers. This is a charged service, but it covers the hours of our time it takes for you to learn the craft and provides you with the time and support you need to get “up to speed”.
If you want to become and author, the mentoring scheme has phased levels of support which starts at £99. Depending on how much support we need to provide – costs will increase. So it’s really important you attend to all feedback provided so we aren’t looking at your work too often!
Some authors need very little feedback before they have it nailed, others need months of support. There is an author agreement and non-disclosure agreement to sign before beginning the mentoring scheme.
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Red Herring Games Ltd
7-9 Alexandra Road
Grimsby
North East Lincolnshire
DN31 1RD
United Kingdom
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UK +44 (0) 1472 348909
USA 866-6878-650
games@red-herring-games.co.uk