A CRIME fiction writer who’s just signed a six-figure deal for three new books in his East German set crime thriller series is coming to Bedale, as part of efforts to keep the town’s library afloat.

David Young, 45, author of Stasi Child, and a former BBC World News Editor will be talking about the stories which inspired the books when he supports the launch of the new Friends of Bedale Library on Thursday March 2.

The library is one of 21 across North Yorkshire where volunteers are taking over as staff are withdrawn because of council budget cuts. Mr Young and his sister kate Dewhirst who lives in Firby, near Bedale have discovered they are direct descendants of the town’s famous diarist Robert Hird who died in 1841. Mr Young said:‘It was a shock to Kate and I when we discovered we had another author in the family in the shape of Robert Hird, and that he was from Bedale. Libraries are so important to our future, so I wanted to do what little I could to help help.”

The launch is at Bedale Hall at 7pm. Contact bedalecommunitylibrary@gmail.com.