Theakston's Crime Festival moves from True Crime to True Love and from Blood curdling to Heart warming

Crimes of the Heart  (from Bloodcurdling to Heart warming)

Scott Turner, 28, and Jo Parker, 39, both from Gloucester, met at their first Theakstons Crime Writing Festival in 2009, both share a mutual love of the genre and are the first 'crime couple' to become engaged during the festival

Jo came to the first Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, after reading about it on author Mark Billingham’s forum six years ago.  Shaking with joy from the surprise proposal, Jo said: “It was a complete shock. We’re both massive crime fans. We’ve made great friends over the years here, and it feels like part of the family now.””

Jo, a reviewer for the crime website, Crimesquad, was surprised by Scott during the author panel ‘In Space, No-one Can Hear You Scream’ featuring crime authors Steve Mosby, Lauren Beukes, Sharon Bolton, James Smythe and Lavie Tidhar.

Steve Mosby, this year’s Festival Programming Chair,  said: “We had got to the end of the panel where audiences are invited to ask questions  and one hand shot up.  He said, ‘I have a question’ but he turned to his girlfriend, dropped to his knees and said ‘will you marry me?’”

Scott said: “All our friends are here, what better place to do it? If she said no, it’s a good location for a murder.”

The event, (co-founded by  Val McDermid and Harrogate International Festivals in 2003), has  become the world’s biggest celebration of crime fiction, attracting international audiences and media.  Its programming committee includes publisher at Little Brown Book Group, David Shelley, agent and co-founder of the Orange Prize for Fiction, Jane Gregory, and Val McDermid.