Cosy crime book series to be developed for TV

A series of cosy crime books set in Scarborough are being developed for television, the author has confirmed.

Inspired by her childhood holidays on the North Yorkshire coast, Glenda Young published Murder at the Seaview Hotel in 2021.

Now a four-book series, the novels follow the escapades of a bed and breakfast landlady-turned-amateur-sleuth solving quirky murders, and recently saw Young shortlisted for an award for best new crime series alongside Richard Osman and Val McDermid.

Young, from Sunderland, has since said a Teesside production company had picked up the books and were in the early stages of development.

"I think it's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me in my life," the author said.

"They might be on telly or one of the streaming services or it could even be for the big screen.

"We just don't know yet, it's still at very early days. I'm trying not to get too carried away."

According to Young, Nova Mundi Studios had picked up the series and had set up meetings with broadcasters.

The author said she had been inspired by her childhood visits to Scarborough and "went there in her imagination" while writing during lockdown.

Set entirely in the resort, the books feature all of the well-known landmarks in the seaside town.

"All of the shops, the streets, the open air theatre, the spa, they're all in there," Young explained.

"People say that if they haven't been to Scarborough for a long time, then it makes them want to go back."

Young said her parents took her and her two brothers to the North Yorkshire town for about "20 years on the trot".

"It was the same two weeks in the middle of August, same bed and breakfast, we absolutely loved the place," she said.

"It was after my dad passed away and we were all lost in grief that my brother said we should go to Scarborough and celebrate dad's life. So we did.

"Ever since, we've just been going back as a family two, three, four times a year and now I go even more regularly than that."

When Young could not leave the house in lockdown, she took to writing.

"Because lockdown was really depressing, I went to Scarborough in my imagination and that's when I wrote the first book," she added.

"I thought it was going to be a one-off project but the publisher said 'we love it can you turn it into a series?'."

Later this year, Young is due to release her fifth book in the series Music to Die For at the Seaview Hotel.

She hopes a cameo might be in her future as well, possibly eating a "pineapple surprise at the Harbour Bar".

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