Over the last five years, author Simon McCleave has emerged as one of the UK’s popular crime thriller writers, basing his novels in the unique North Wales landscapes. With over 3.5 million books sold, McCleave is a popular read for crime fans.
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Best known for his Snowdonia Killings novel, Simon McCleave is a bestselling crime novelist living in North Wales with his wife and two children, writing gripping British crime thrillers, police procedurals, and mystery fiction.
Born in South London, Simon McCleave is well-known as a talented writer, and prior to making the switch as an author, he worked as a script editor at the BBC and as a producer at Channel 4, as well as working as a story analyst in Los Angeles. He then turned to script writing, and contributed to various television series including Silent Witness, The Bill, and EastEnders, before transitioning to novel writing in 2020 after self-publishing his debut.
He also wrote Out of the Game, a short film for Channel 4 starring Caan Clerkin, Tameka Empson, Tara Keatley and Peter Sullivan.
McCleave’s first novel, The Snowdonia Killings, was released in January 2020, quickly becoming an Amazon bestseller and reaching the No 1 spot on the UK chart. With over 400,000 copies sold of his first novel, the Di Ruth Hunter Snowdonia series has been a major hit, with most books in the series hitting the top spots on the digital charts. The DI Ruth Hunter series now includes 23 books in total. The second book is The Harlech Beach Killings and there are several free prequels available.
In this series, Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter has recently moved from London to Wales chasing a quieter life. While she hopes that living and working rurally means less serious criminals and crime to deal with, she can’t be more wrong.
Ruth Hunter is a loveable character, and readers will learn much about the team she works with and their personal struggles. These mystery-driven plots move quite quickly, keeping readers guessing to the last page.
The DC Ruth Hunter Murder File series is a prequel to the Snowdonia Killings series and is based in London. The four books in this series take Ruth Hunter fans on a journey through the late 1990’s from war criminals to the sleazy side of the entertainment business, these four books will keep readers enjoying the series.
The Dark Tide was the first book in the Anglesey based crime series and was a hit with readers in 2022, becoming the highest selling Waterstone’s Welsh Book of the Month. It was also his first book for publishing giant Harper Collins.
Set on the Isle of Anglesey, this series focuses on DI Laura Hart, a previous top Hostage and Crisis Negotiator for the Greater Manchester Police. Now living on the Isle of Anglesey to heal after her husband was brutally murdered she gets a call that a tourist boat her son was on was seized by armed drug dealers. With no other negotiator available, Laura Hart needs to step up in what is her worst nightmare.
The Frank Marshal series is the latest of Simon McCleave’s books with four books in the series published in 2025 and a further two published in 2026.
Starting with Marshal of Snowdonia, the Frank Marshal series is centred around a retired detective who takes up a case the police won’t. Set in the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia, Frank Marshal works with Annie, a retired judge, to investigate why Annie’s sister disappeared from a caravan site. What they find is links to drug dealers and historic murder cases from the 90’s.
Frank has old fashioned values and is fiercely protective of his family. He is the older male character McCleave has been waiting to write about.
The Frank Marshal series addresses the themes of aging and mortality. With both main characters in their 70’s, it looks at whether society values the wisdom that comes with age.
