Three crime writers Sophie Hannah, David Mark and Sarah Hilary join forces to discuss how they create their detective characters and where they get their inspiration.

How do you make your detective interesting, do you put something of yourself into him or her and are they based on real-life characters?

Hannah is an internationally bestselling author of crime fiction and a poet. She recently wrote a new Agatha Christie novel featuring Hercule Poirot, The Monogram Murders, approved by the Agatha Christie estate. Her new novel is The Narrow Bed. Mark’s latest novel is Dead Pretty, the fifth in a series featuring DS Aector McAvoy, a Scottish policeman based in Hull’s serious and organised crime unit. Hilary’s first DI Marnie Rome novel, Someone Else’s Skin, won the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year. The third, Tastes Like Fear, is out in April.

Sponsored by Macdonald Randolph Hotel.