CrimeFest, the UK’s biggest crime fiction convention, has announced a headline 2024 event with the Murdle author, G.T. Karber.

The Arkansas author has staged more than 30 immersive whodunits in the LA area, as the General Secretary of the Hollywood Mystery Society, and will host a special Murdle event on CrimeFest’s opening night.

CrimeFest, sponsored by Specsavers, is hosted from 9 to 12 May 2024 at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel. Up to 150 authors take part, appearing in over 50 panels.

G.T Karber joins featured guests for 2024’s CrimeFest – Laura Lippman, Denise Mina, Lynda Plante and James Lee Burke.

Karber will also take part in a panel on Columbo, alongside fellow aficionados of the iconic TV show, Laura Lippman, and Vaseem Khan, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA).

G.T Karber’s third instalment, Murdle: Even More Killer Puzzles will be published on 9 May by Souvenir Press.

The fiendishly compulsive mini-mystery puzzles challenge readers to find whodunit, how, where, and why. The new book features the deadly secrets of a mysterious manor, the riddles of a suspiciously orderly science institute and the eerie corridors of a tech billionaire’s island retreat.

Adrian Muller said: “We’re really excited that G.T Karber is coming from Hollywood to open CrimeFest on Thursday night. It promises to be a thrilling, fun, and hugely entertaining evening, and with the many crime authors and readers taking part, it will be intriguing to see who cracks the Murdle code.”

The convention will also feature a homage to PD James, known as the Queen of Crime Fiction, with the award-winning crime writer and lawyer, Frances Fyfield, the Sunday Times chief fiction critic, Peter Kemp, and the author, playwright, and producer, Simon Brett.

The Welsh-Canadian mystery writer Cathy Ace will be the Gala Dinner’s ‘Leader of Toasts’, toasting the authors nominated for the 2024 CrimeFest awards. Cathy’s Cait Morgan Mysteries have been optioned for TV by the production company, Free@Last TV, which is behind the hit series, Agatha Raisin.

The convention was founded in 2008 and features the annual CrimeFest Awards.