DORSET crime writer Minette Walters is sharing her gift with the stars in a new reality TV show as she aims to get more people hooked on books.

Murder Most Famous will see the bestselling novelist teach six celebrities the art of crime writing.

After each show Mrs Walters will kick off the star with the least potential and the eventual winner will have their own short novel published.

The famous names taking part include Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole, ex-Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie and Holby City actress Angela Griffin.

Other stars of the small screen hoping to pen the ultimate crime novel are TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin, presenter Mark Allwright and Sherrie Hewson, formerly of Coronation Street.

Mrs Walters, who lives at Whitcombe Manor just outside Dorchester, will act as mentor to the contestants and set them a series of tasks and each episode will see her 'bump off' one celebrity.

A panel of literary judges will then select one of the final two to write their own crime-fiction novella, which will be published as part of the Quick Reads series by PanMacmillan on World Book Day 2009.

Mrs Walters, whose past works include The Ice House and The Chameleon's Shadow, is hoping the programme will inspire more people to discover or rediscover the delights of literature.

She said: "I'm really looking forward to it, I think it's going to be very exciting and very amusing.

"What I hope is that a whole new audience is going to be engrossed by reading, writing and books.

"Everyone who doesn't normally watch a programme about books will hopefully find this really entertaining, exciting and it will persuade people that reading is fun."

Mrs Walters, whose works have been published in over 30 different countries, has always been a keen advocate of the need to address the levels of illiteracy in this country.

She said: "Everybody who took part is just hoping that we will reach a few of the 17 million adults in this country who have never read books.

"That is the figure and it's either because they struggle to read, they don't have the time or they have forgotten how exciting books can be.

"There are also lots of people out there who would love to be published and hopefully this will inspire them."

The author added that she enjoyed her time working with the celebrities and was pleasantly surprised with the talent some of them possessed.

"They really worked hard and I was really impressed.

"Obviously I can't say who wins but there were at least three who have the potential to write full-length novels."

The series will be screened on BBC Two at lunchtime throughout next week, starting at 1.30pm on Monday, March 3.