THE most criminal town in England is preparing for another murderous invasion.

Harrogate may seem genteel on the surface, but the wind that blows across the Stay brings with it a serious whiff of criminality.

Fortunately for the residents of the spa town, most of the crime is fictional (although the cost of parking near the Crown Hotel might be considered a true-life crime).

The annual Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which runs at the Crown as part of the Harrogate International Festival in July, was launched this week by crime writer Laura Wilson who is this year’s “programme chair”, and Simon Theakston, executive director of the sponsors, Theakstons the brewers.

Speaking at the launch at the Crown, Mr Theakston described the festival, which runs from July 23 to 26, as “the biggest in Europe and possibly in the world”.

Writers taking part this year include Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Reginald Hill, John Baville writing as Benjamin Black and Val McDermid. The special guest will be George Pelecanos, the American crime novelist also famed for his work on cult TV series The Wire.

Mr Theakston announced that Scottish crime writer Stuart MacBride will write the first chapter for an online festival novel. The remaining chapters will be written by other writers involved in the festival, while MacBride will bring everything together at the end. The online novel will be published in instalments on the festival website, and readers will be able to follow the story as it progresses.

MacBride, whose novels feature Detective Sergeant Logan McRae, will chair the 2010 festival.

Laura Wilson said she was “thrilled to be chairing the 2009 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing festival. Given the spectacular success of previous years, it’s been a hard act to follow”.

•For more information visit www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime or phone 01423 532303.

•Julian Cole’s debut crime novel, The Amateur Historian, was published last year by York publishers Quick Brown Fox. He has written a sequel, which his agent is seeking to place with a British publisher, and has signed a two-book deal with an American publisher.