Let’s Meet….

Kate Ellis…

Kate Ellis was born in Liverpool and she studied drama in Manchester. She worked in teaching, marketing and accountancy before first enjoying writing success as a winner of the North West Playwrights competition. Crime and mystery stories have always fascinated her, as have medieval history and archaeology which she likes to incorporate in her books. She is married with two grown up sons and she lives in North Cheshire, England, with her husband.
Kate's novels feature archaeology graduate Detective Sergeant Wesley Peterson who fights crime in the "mean streets" (or should it be "mean lanes"?) of South Devon. Each story combines an intriguing contemporary murder mystery with a parallel historical case. She has also written five books in the spooky Joe Plantagenet series set in North Yorkshire and an historical trilogy set in the aftermath of the First World War as well as many short stories for crime fiction anthologies and magazines. Kate was elected a member of The Detection Club in 2014. She is a member of the Crime Writers Association and Murder Squad. Kate was the winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library award in 2019 and she is currently working on her twenty seventh Wesley Peterson novel.

Wesley Peterson

My Wesley Peterson series blends contemporary crime with history and archaeology in the 'mean lanes' of South Devon.
The books in order are:
The Merchant's House (1998),
The Armada Boy (1999),
An Unhallowed Grave (1999),
The Funeral Boat (2000),
The Bone Garden (2001),
A Painted Doom (2002),
The Skeleton Room (2003),
The Plague Maiden (2004),
A Cursed Inheritance (2005),
The Marriage Hearse (2006),
The Shining Skull (2007),
The Blood Pit (2008),
A Perfect Death (2009),
The Flesh Tailor (2010),
The Jackal Man (2011),
The Cadaver Game (2012),
The Shadow Collector (2013),
The Shroud Maker (2014),
The Death Season (2015),
The House of Eyes (2016),
The Mermaid's Scream (2017),
The Mechanical Devil (2018),
Dead Man's Lane (2019),
The Burial Circle (2020),
The Stone Chamber (2021),
Serpent's Point (2022) and
The Killing Place (2023)
Coffin Island (2024)
Deadly Remains (2025)
The Chapel of Bones (2026)

Kate Ellis is an award winning author of two thrilling crime series and has sold over a million books worldwide. She has also written an historical trilogy and many short stories.

Kate has a story in this great anthology - Happiness is a Warm Gun inspired by her experiences growing up in Liverpool in the Beatles era :-)

Her books in the Wesley Peterson series, containing an intriguing blend of mystery and history, include:

The Merchant's House, The Armada Boy, An Unhallowed Grave, The Funeral Boat, The Bone Garden, A Painted Doom, The Skeleton Room, The Plague Maiden, A Cursed Inheritance, The Marriage Hearse, The Shining Skull, The Blood Pit, A Perfect Death, The Flesh Tailor, The Jackal Man, The Cadaver Game, The Shadow Collector, The Shroud Maker, The Death Season, The House of Eyes , The Mermaid's Scream, The Mechanical Devil , Dead Man's Lane, The Burial Circle, The Stone Chamber, Serpent's Point, The Killing Place, Coffin Island & Deadly Remains

Also available are five books in her spooky and mysterious series set in the ancient city of Eborby in North Yorshire and featuring DI Joe Plantagenet: SEEKING THE DEAD, PLAYING WITH BONES, KISSING THE DEMONS, WATCHING THE GHOSTS & WALKING BY NIGHT. The sixth book in the series KILLING IN THE SHADOWS is to be published on 29 January 2026

Kate has also completed a powerful and stunning historical trilogy set in the aftermath of the First World War. A HIGH MORTALITY OF DOVES, THE BOY WHO LIVED WITH THE DEAD & THE HOUSE OF THE HANGED WOMAN are available in paperback and ebook

Quick News

Kate is pleased to announce that Killing in the Shadows has been selected for a UK Kindle Monthly deal in May. This will be priced at 99p for the month.

Kate's short story, 'Not a Note' is in the latest CWA Anthology 'Music of the Night'

Kate's historical crime novel The Devil's Priest is available to download from the Amazon Kindle Store for £1.77p ($2.99 US)

Kate has written about the art of plotting in the new Detection Club publication HOWDUNIT - a masterclass in crime writing from the UK's leading crime authors.

Forthcoming Events
On Saturday 18 April from 12 noon, Kate will be signing her books at Waterstones, Stockport

On Saturday 9 May from 2pm, Kate will be signing her books at Waterstones, Wilmslow

Throughout 2026, Kate will be speaking and attending events in collaboration with Cheadle Civic Society, to celebrate the life and work of Agatha Christie

Kate will be attending and speaking at Shetland Noir 11 - 14 June 2026

24 June 2026 at 2pm, Kate will be speaking at Sutton-in-Ashield library, NG17 1BP

Thanks Eadie, I wasn’t aware the new book in the Joe Plantagenet series had been published. A lot of years since we read that series.

Thanks, Eadie, ☺️.

Many thanks Eadie. Long way to go in this series. What a prolific writer Kate Ellis is.

Thank you, Eadie.

You’re welcome >3 Andrew-theQM: >4 Sergeirocks: >5 Maura49: >6 Carol420:

Thanks Eadie

You’re welcome >8 JohnDBurke: