Maxim Jakubowski (Chair)
Maxim worked for many years in book publishing as an editor and launched the Murder One Bookshop, which he owned and ran for over 20 years. He now writes, edits and translates full-time in London. The series The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, which he edits and now at Volume 13, has printed many winners of the CWA Short Story Dagger. His website is maximjakubowski.co.uk.

Danuta Reah

Danuta Reah is an award-winning writer of crime fiction. Her books and short stories have been translated into over ten languages. She believes that a good novel should tell a gripping story, have a satisfactory ending and be peopled by characters who are fully-developed and believable. Her writing is fueled by her passion for stories and her love of narrative in all its forms: novels, graphic novels, film and video, games. She believes that people create themselves in the stories they tell and the stories they experience.

Simon Kurt Unsworth

Simon Kurt Unsworth has written two thrillers set in Hell, The Devil’s Detective and The Devil’s Evidence, and six short story collections as well as co-writing a collection with his son, Benjamin Kurt Unsworth. He lives in the Lake District with his wife and various children and animals, swimming in lakes and rivers, eating pizza and writing whatever comes into his head, for which pursuit he was once nominated for a World Fantasy Award.

Sonja van der Westhuizen

Sonja is a book critic, language practitioner and graphic designer based in Cape Town, South Africa. She’s a regular contributor to the Crime Fiction Lover site and reviews on the European Literature Network and her own blog, West Words Reviews. She also writes for Afrikaans and English newspapers and magazines in South Africa and has been on the judging panel for the Ngaio Marsh Awards for the past five years and more recently also for the Petrona Award. She’ll read practically anything with a dead body in it, bonus points if it’s Japanese crime fiction, Nordic noir or, more recently, horror. She particularly enjoys translated fiction, whether literary or crime oriented. Her only other vice apart from her obvious book addiction is coffee and any form of pastry—preferably while reading.