Cath Staincliffe books

Anthologies

Detectives Donovan & Young Reading Order

Janine Lewis Reading Order

Sal Kilkenny Reading Order

Scott & Bailey Reading Order

Short Stories/Novellas

Short Story Collections

Standalone Novels

Cath Staincliffe has been writing crime fiction since 1994, when she introduced Manchester-based private investigator Sal Kilkenny in Looking for Trouble. That series ran for eight books over nearly two decades and established Staincliffe as one of the leading voices in northern English crime writing. She also created the hit ITV series Scott & Bailey, which she novelized in three tie-in books.

Beyond her series work, Staincliffe has written more than a dozen standalone novels that range from domestic suspense to police procedurals. Books like The Kindest Thing, Letters To My Daughter’s Killer, and Half the World Away deal with ordinary people caught up in violent or tragic circumstances. Her Janine Lewis series, based on the TV show Blue Murder, follows a senior detective balancing murder investigations with life as a single mother. More recently, she launched the Detectives Donovan & Young series with The Fells in 2024, set against the rugged backdrop of the northern English countryside.

Staincliffe’s fiction regularly draws on the social landscape of Manchester and the wider north of England. She has contributed short stories to several anthologies, including collections from the Murder Squad, a group of British crime writers she co-founded. Her writing has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and has earned recognition for its grounded, character-driven approach to the genre.