Mr Hill, in the library, with a dagger

IT could be the opening of a detective novel. A group of distinguished guests arrives at a luxury hotel for the weekend. The setting is idyllic. Outside, the river Wear flows slowly past and the sun sets behind the tower of the magnificent Norman cathedral, but in the lobby and lounges, the conversation turns to crime and daggers.

Fortunately, unlike the unfortunate characters who meet sticky ends in the world of detective fiction, these people stand a fairly good chance of making it through the weekend without being bashed over the head with a length of lead piping in the conservatory. This is the Crime Writers' Association's annual conference and what its members don't know about crime isn't worth knowing.

The association was founded in 1953 by the late John Creasey, a popular writer from the 1930s to the 1950s, who is now largely forgotten. Its aim was to allow authors and true crime writers to socialise and gain access to professional expertise that would be helpful for their work. It now has more than 400 members from across the country.

Peter Walker, aka Nicholas Rhea, is convenor of the association's Northern Chapter and one of the 100 delegates attending the conference at the Durham Marriott Hotel Royal County. A former police officer, he is best-known as the creator of the Constable stories, on which the popular TV series Heartbeat, filmed on the North York Moors, is based. For him, the event is important both socially and professionally.

"It gives writers access to specialist knowledge from the police and other experts. It's also an opportunity to socialise with each other. Writing can be a very lonely profession and this is the one chance we get to talk shop and enjoy ourselves at the same time," he explains.

The conference is taking place over two days and, as well as having an opportunity to explore historic Durham City, the writers will be attending a series of lectures by specialists in crime detection, offender profiling and the theft of high value art works. The highlight of the weekend will be tonight's gala dinner where Sunderland South MP Chris Mullin, himself a political thriller writer, will be guest speaker.

The conference has been organised by Peter and Margaret Lewis, who live near Hexham in Northumberland. Peter, a former English lecturer at Durham University, is the author of acclaimed literary biographies of John le Carre and Eric Ambler, a thriller writer who was popular in the middle years of the 20th Century. More recently, he's branched out into fiction and has had a number of short stories published. Margaret is also fascinated by detective stories and has written biographies of New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh, and Brother Cadfael creator, Ellis Peters.

"Essentially, the association's aims have remained the same but it has grown and evolved over the years," says Peter. "One of the things we do now is award a number of prizes. It started off in the 1960s with the Gold Dagger, which was awarded for the best crime novel of the year, but there is now a whole system of awards."

The ultimate accolade is the Cartier Diamond Dagger, which is given out in recognition of lifetime achievement. Past recipients have included PD James, Ruth Rendell and Reginald Hill - some of the best-known names in British crime fiction, who regularly top the bestseller lists.

"You only have to look at the sales figures to see how popular these authors and others are," says Peter. "Crime books are eternally popular, although there has been a change over the years. Modern fiction tends to be darker, more noirish."

There's certainly a world of difference between Ian Rankin's dour, hard-drinking Inspector Rebus and the aristocratic, monocle-wearing sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, created in the 1920s by Dorothy L Sayers. But both are popular and the books of Agatha Christie, the doyenne of Golden Age crime, are re-printed every few years.

One phenomenon of recent years has been the rise of historical crime novels and Lindsey Davis, who takes over as chairman of the Crime Writers' Association this weekend, has a massive following for her ancient Roman detective, Falco.

"Historical novels tend to be a bit softer, less violent, less disturbing than contemporary crime novels," explains Peter. "I think it was Ellis Peters who started it all with her Brother Cadfael books. Publishers didn't really expect them to succeed but they became hugely popular and have spawned a number of imitators. It's not to everyone's taste but it does have a big following," explains Peter.

Peter Walker agrees. "Public lending figures show crime is the single most popular genre. Other books come and go but crime is eternally popular. It may be because people like the mystery or because it takes them out of their own lives, which are often mundane.

"They move with the times and tend to reflect what's going on in society. Agatha Christie is still very popular, but what she wrote about is very cosy, country house murders and that sort of thing. People tend to write much more realistic stories now."

However, his own novels hark back to a gentler age. His literary career began in 1967 with a book about lorry hijacking, but it's his Constable books, set in a North Yorkshire village, that have made his reputation.

"I had always wanted to write but I didn't really have any idea what I wanted to write about until a friend suggested crime. Thinking back, it's obvious, but it took me a while to get round to it. The Constable books didn't come until later. They're not crime books in the true sense. They're more about rural life and what it's like to a be a policeman."

Even those who haven't read the books are familiar with the characters through the television programme Heartbeat. "I was most impressed by the adaptation. I went to London for the press screening of the first episode and it was amazing to see how true to the books they had been."

This weekend, Peter will be guarding his ideas for future books closely, although no doubt he will be sharing experiences about the way he works with his fellow writers.

"We do tend to talk a lot," he says. "Ideas are all around, waiting to be picked up, things most people don't notice but which novelists can turn into a story. I get my ideas from things I see or read about.

"Usually, I just sit down and start writing. I have no idea what's going to go into it the book until I get in front of my computer and write chapter one. The stories just pour out - fortunately."

* If you enjoy reading, why not visit The Northern Echo's online book club, The Reading Room. We choose a different book each month and reviews appear online. This month's book is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.