The Return of True Detective: Graham Bartlett

Shots Magazine are delighted to see the return of Graham Bartlett, following up his insightful ‘DEATH COMES KNOCKING’, a non-fiction crime work that looks back over his career as a Sussex Police Commander. That work was written in-conjunction with the award-winning [and best-selling] Peter James, as there is a link to the fictional world of Roy Grace.

Peter James is favourite writer of mine, a former Film Producer who’s writing traverses Horror and Speculative Fiction but best known for his police procedurals set in a dangerous Brighton, as well as international excursions that Roy Grace has to undertake in his investigations. It was excellent to hear that this singular creation is being adapted for TV. In fact, 2020 appears an important year for Peter James, as we reported at last year’s Christmas Lunch that the author generously organised – more information about what the year has in store for Peter James’ readership HERE

So as Bartlett’s Babes in the Wood [the follow-up to Death Comes Knocking] has been unleashed, what’s in store?

On 9 October 1986, nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway went out to play on their Brighton estate. They would never return home; their bodies discovered the next day concealed in a local park. This devastating crime rocked the country.

With unique access to the officers charged with catching the killer, former senior detective Graham Bartlett and bestselling author Peter James tell the compelling inside story of the investigation as the net tightens around local man Russell Bishop. The trial that follows is one of the most infamous in the history of Brighton policing – a shock result sees Bishop walk free.

Three years later, Graham is working in Brighton CID when a seven-year-old girl is abducted and left to die. She survives . . . and Bishop’s name comes up as a suspect. Is history repeating itself? Can the police put him away this time, and will he ever be made to answer for his past horrendous crimes? Both gripping police procedural and an insight into the motivations of a truly evil man, Babes in the Wood by Graham Bartlett with Peter James is a fascinating account of what became a thirty-two-year fight for justice.

Read More from Pan Macmillan HERE

This link tells more from the author –

Graham kindly provided Shots Readers, a little more background to his change from Police Officer, to Investigative Consultant and Writer -

When I hung up my epaulettes after thirty years of policing, I loved writing and had many plans but none were to become a best-selling crime writer. That was all Peter James’ fault when he set me the most extensive and challenging piece of homework I’d ever faced.

‘Write a non-fiction with me,’ he said. ‘Linking your career with the Roy Grace stories,’ he said. ‘And you’d damned well better make it worthy of my name,’ he joked.

From the age of eighteen I’d written nothing but witness statements, incident reports and, as the commander of Brighton and Hove police, pleading submissions against the cuts. So, when WH Smith customers’ “greatest crime author of all time,” threw down that particular gauntlet I picked it up with trepidation.

It was the hardest yet most fulfilling journey I have ever embarked on. Rejection after rejection because my voice (what even was that?) was too policey only spurred me on until finally, after three years and more drafts than I can bear to remember, Death Come Knocking – Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton was published. A week at number 7 in the Sunday Times Top Ten earned me the label of “Best Seller” but, more importantly, I caught the bug.

Our second book, Babes in the Wood – published in February 2020 - took even longer to write. It tells the inside policing story to how, after thirty-two years and three trials, child killer Russell Bishop was finally brought to justice.

Having been wrongly acquitted for killing nine-year-olds, Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, in 1986, Bishop went on to kidnap and to get within a hairs breadth of killing a seven-year-old girl in near identical circumstances three years later. That was the first major incident I investigated and it formed a compelling chapter in Death Comes Knocking. However, two weeks before our final deadline, a court order crashed in to my inbox banning us – and the world’s press – from publishing anything about Bishop as he had been re-arrested for Karen and Nicola’s murder. Despair quickly turned to elation when it hit me that the relaxation of the double jeopardy safeguards – which stopped acquitted suspects being re-prosecuted – and the advance of DNA science meant that finally the little girls’ families had a chance of justice.

Peter and I decided to write the whole story, from the girls going missing to what we then hoped – and were proved right – would be guilty verdicts. We would tell it using first-hand accounts from the officers who answered Karen’s mum’s desperate 999 call, to the officer who found the bodies and every senior detective – and many junior – who had anything to do with the cases. – including me. There was a lot of hanging around for the re-trial but eventually we interviewed those key cops and finished the book, busting five myths about the case in the writing.

Despite being a career-detective, I have always tried to find the good in people. Most killers, rapists and robbers I have met have at least a flicker of humanity if you dig deep enough. The vast majority I could describe as being “people who have done evil things,” rather than “evil people.”

Bishop was the exception. He is wicked to the core.

His crimes, depraved, brutal and unforgiveable, speak for themselves but we saw in his interviews and in court a living, breathing psychopath. How else do your describe someone who tries to gas-light wizened and wily interviewers into believing a story that flip-flops around the evidence on a minute by minute basis that, were the case not so serious, it would be laughable? Who else would brazenly defend sending sexually explicit letters to a thirteen-year-old girl – and he knew that – by saying he thought she was fifteen? Only someone like Bishop could be so dismissive of a grieving father’s decades-long anguish that he could accuse him of watching a video of her being raped then later sexually assaulting and murdering both her and her friend. If Bishop were ever released, children would be in mortal danger.

As well as writing I advise Peter James, and now many others, on achieving pinpoint accuracy in their police procedure and characters. Plenty of former cops offer themselves up to do this but not many are published authors. Few understand the narrative process and can meld a story with authentic procedure. Combining my years as a detective, firearms commander and city police chief with my new career as an author, I put the plot first and work the authenticity into that. I share the secrets of how crimes are actually investigated and solved, from the corpse to the courtroom and help shape the characters who do that.

That makes me a real pain to watch TV drama with or to read ill-researched crime fiction. It’s unfair on other authors that I use Peter James and Mark Billingham as my benchmarks of what can be achieved, but many put the hard yards in and produce great – authentic – novels. Elly Griffiths, Dorothy Koomson, E V Seymour and Adam Croft are just a few of those whose books I fly – wince-free - through. Sometimes though, I like to avoid any chance of critiquing when I should be enjoying and my two favourite authors who write in a world I know nothing about are Gregg Hurwitz (Orphan X series) and Deon Meyer (Benny Griessell series). I doubt Gregg’s world of deniable assassins hung out to dry by a corrupt US government exists (Naïve? Moi?). Likewise, Deon’s South Africa Police Service is nothing like the provincial UK force I am familiar with so I can just read and enjoy – as the authors intended.

I’m moving away from non-fiction for now and am editing my first novel. Supported wonderfully by my agent Isobel Dixon of Blake Friedman and the lord and master Peter James, I have written a story I’m quietly proud of which shows the horror of what happens when policing is cut so much that state-sponsored vigilantism takes over. Watch this space for more news on that.

So, we’d recommend grabbing a copy, especially as this weird COVID-19 is in the air, and many turning to books while we isolate ourselves.

This link tells more HERE

Babes in the Wood – by Graham Bartlett with Peter James is published by Pan and available from Amazon, WH Smiths, Waterstones, Asda and other good bookshops.

Peter James’ 2019 Christmas Literary Lunch

Many of us cling to traditions, especially when the Christmas and Hanukkah Holidays approach.

I have traditional reads from authors I have followed over many years, like Lee Child, Martina Cole, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Peter May and Thomas Harris to name just a few – These are writers that provoke deep thought, introspection as the pages turn. I could name many more; many more that have enriched my life [and the lives of others], but for today, we’ll settle on the ones I’ve named above.

It’s perhaps Peter James’ literary work, and his presence that always comes to mind when the blanket of winter is upon me. One tradition that sprang from a generous lunch, many years ago, soon became a date, a fixture that I eagerly accept annually, inking it in thick red sharpie in my diary – The Peter James annual Christmas lunch. It’s hosted generously by his Publisher Pan Macmillan, his Agent the poet Isobel Dixon – and this year managed adroitly and with uncommon enthusiasm by Emily Souders of Riot Communications.

As the decade draws to a close, it is always excellent to break bread with fellow writers / literary commentators. This year’s event featured guests Karen Robinson [of the Times Crime Club], Deidre O’Brien [of The Mirror], Barry Forshaw [of the F.T.  DVD reviews, Fiesta, among many others], Laura Wilson [of the Guardian], Nic Clee [of Book Brunch] and the poet and the uber literary agent Isobel Dixon. There was a lot of laughter around the table, and afterward Mike Stotter and I carried on drinking Gin and Tonics until it was very late, exchanging anecdotes. I find the company of people who read books, especially crime, thriller and horror novels to be good for the mind and the soul.

Everyone was delighted to hear that Literary bad-boy Mark Timlin has returned to print, but sad and melancholic that Marcel Berlins passed away this year. The reality of life and that of existence is a mystery; so any opportunity to share our time with people who are important to us, and to laugh deeply - must be embraced with uncommon alacrity.

But as ever, I digress.

It was back in 2006, that Peter was publishing his sophomore Roy Grace novel in hardcover LOOKING GOOD DEAD [with the first DEAD SIMPLE coming out in Paperback]. Peter knew that both Barry Forshaw and I were Horror Fiction readers / reviewers from way back. It should be remembered that prior to the Roy Grace police procedurals, Peter had penned thrillers and a series of horror novels that made critics pronounce him to be “…the British Stephen King…”. So joining Barry and I were Carla McKay, and Mark Timlin. The lunch was a splendid affair, where we laughed and we laughed, between a discussion about what books we’d enjoyed and in Mark Timlin’s case the need for more wine. I was curious about Peter’s 2^nd book in this [now] bestselling Roy Grace series, as I could tell even then, these police procedural novels had legs.

Read about the inaugural Peter James Christmas Lunch, back in 2006 from Jeff Peirce’s THE RAP SHEET – Click Here to Dine with a Deadman  

It was such a fun lunch, just before Christmas that Peter proclaimed that we should do this again. He is a man of his word, and so over the years ‘The Peter James Christmas lunch’ has become a bigger affair, where Peter generously invites colleagues to close the year with a wonderful literary event. It’s Peter [with his publishers] way of ending the year with comradery, and is done so with flourish and with good humour.

A decade ago, after the Christmas Lunch in 2009, Peter James kindly agreed to answering a lengthy series of questions from Mike Sotter and I. We often joke that it was…… the interview with no end…..it’s archived HERE, and acts as a primer for those few who are unfamiliar with Peter’s writing as well as his role as a Film Producer.

So, as we head back to the future - 2020 is set to be a signal-year for Peter James as well as the team he has assembled around him. Shots would like to share the news we gathered during lunch, with our readers -

The most exciting being, that DEAD SIMPLE [his first police procedural] is planned to start filming next year for ITV, with John Simm to play Roy Grace –

The Doctor Who star will take on the troubled Detective Superintendent Roy Grace in the series, which is based on the bestselling Roy Grace novels by Peter James.

The series will consist of two episodes and will cover the first two books, Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead, with filming due to begin in Brighton in early 2020.

Novelist Peter James said: “John Simm, who actually looks like the Roy Grace of my imagination, is inspired casting! With John in the lead, the brilliant scripting by Russell Lewis, and our wonderful production team, I’m confident that fans of my novels and of TV crime dramas in general will be in for a treat.”

John Simm is best known for playing The Master in Doctor Who and fellow time traveller Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and was recently in ITV crime drama Strangers.

Read More from The Radio Times HERE

I remarked that it was an extraordinary achievement that the 2019 Roy Grace novel DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT beat Thomas Harris’ CARI MORA [his sixth novel], which was released on the same day. Peter James was Numero Uno again in the Nielsen Book Charts.

If it hasn’t happened in fiction most of us are aware of it in reality, if not personally. How many of us have been the target of desperate countrymen stranded in a foreign land who can be saved by the loan of a few pounds?

James elaborates that crude scam into a sophisticated scheme with neat variations and here incorporating an on-line dating agency. There is a nebulous network of organisations with operators extorting vast sums of cash from vulnerable people mainly in the USA and UK. The extortioners hail from Germany, Eastern Europe, West Africa – and Brighton, Sussex.

Read Gwen Moffat’s full review at Shots Magazine HERE

The mention of Cari Mora, by Thomas Harris got me excited again, though I appear one of the few critics who considered Harris’ sixth novel to be an audacious literary masterpiece. I do not fear being alone on this matter - this is why – CLICK HERE

We were also delighted to hear that one of my favourite novels, the techno-thriller PERFECT PEOPLE is optioned to come as a streaming-TV miniseries.

I wrote at the time -

A surreal journey of ethics, science, and religion – and as far away from the dark alleyways of Roy Grace’s Brighton as one could get, but a blindingly hot read set at the edges of our reality and indicative that Peter James can carve a thriller as tortuous as the DNA Double-Helix – In a word, remarkable.

Read the full review HERE

As for the adaptation –

Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak has lined up his next European TV project – an adaptation of Peter James’ psychological thriller Perfect People for Scandinavian streamer Viaplay with German producer Leonine.

The event series is based on James’ book, which was published in 2011, and is a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller and family drama set in the world of genetically-engineered children who, as they hit puberty, are revealed to be not as “perfect” as their designers had intended.

Read More from DEADLINE HERE

I remarked that considering the amount of work that Peter James has done over the years [including Chair of the Crime Writers Association for two consecutive terms] and being awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger 2016 for his contribution to the Crime and Thriller Genre, his presence at many international events, such as Capital Crime this summer – coupled to the subject that lies at the heart of his techno-thriller PERFECT PEOPLE, I believed that Peter had perfected cloning technology, and the Peter James who ate with us in London’s Ivy Club was not the actual author, but one of his many clones. Due to the excellent wine, it drew a few laughs [as we were indeed seeing doubles everywhere].

Here’s Peter discussing writing the Techno Thriller PERFECT PEOPLE as well as about where Roy Grace  came from -

And I’d add it was perhaps one of his clones that worked with Hugh Bonneville on the Audible version of his extremely thought-provoking thriller ABSOLUTE TRUTH, click HERE for more information.

We also learned that Peter has a true-crime book, written in partnership with Graham Bartlett, following their first collaboration DEATH COMES KNOCKING [Click HERE for info on their first collaboration].

The new work is titled BABES IN THE WOOD

On 9 October 1986, nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway went out to play on their Brighton estate. They would never return home; their bodies discovered the next day concealed in a small clearing in a local park. This devastating crime rocked their close-knit community and the whole country.

Following the investigation moment by moment, drawing on exclusive interviews with officers charged with catching the killer, former senior detective Graham Bartlett and bestselling author Peter James tell the compelling inside story of the murder hunt and the arrest of local man Russell Bishop. The trial that followed was one of the most infamous in the history of Brighton policing – a shock result sees Bishop walk free. ‘Not guilty.’

Three years later, Graham is working as a junior detective in Brighton CID. A seven year old girl is kidnapped and found wandering naked on the freezing South Downs. When Bishop’s name comes up as a suspect, it’s clear history had come close to repeating itself. With the law and science against them, the police are frustrated that, still, he would escape justice for the double murder.

Read More HERE

And I haven’t mentioned Peter’s theatrical work, or his recent Short Story Collection or even his Cold Hill Horror Books……

We all lead busy lives, so the Peter James’ Christmas Lunch was an excellent opportunity intersect with colleagues who have become friends with our shared enthusiasm for literature’s darkest avenue, Crime Mystery and Thriller – of which Peter James is one of the leading lights., due to his talent, but also his work ethic.

So, if you’ve not discovered the work of Peter James, or wish to keep up to date with his literary, audio or film / TV work, then Click HERE and to follow his Detective Roy Grace Click HERE

Mike Stotter and I would like to pass our thanks to Emily Souders of Riot Communications, Pan MacMillan, Blake Friedmann and the staff of London’s IVY Club for an excellent Christmas Lunch – though Roy was absent to say Grace……

Shots Magazine would also like to wish all our readers, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah, and may 2020 be an excellent year for you all, and remember to pick up a book as Reading [aka Bibliotherapy] is important for the mind, and here’s why – CLICK HERE

Photos © 2019 Ali Karim, Audible, Pan Macmillan and The Ivy

“We don’t invent our natures...they’re issued to us along with our lungs and

Pancreas and everything else.”

Dr Hannibal Lecter, speaking to Will Graham

Thomas Harris / Red Dragon [1981]

A Tale of Two Novels: Where Crime Fiction meets the Horrific

When two of the World’s greatest Thriller Writers decide to release their latest (and highly anticipated) work, in the UK, and on the same week, one has to admire the bravery of the publishers. Both Peter James and Thomas Harris have achieved both critical acclaim, as well as bestselling status for their highly acclaimed work.

Firstly, from the William Heinemann imprint of PenguinRandomHouse, we have Thomas Harris’s Cari Mora, his sixth published novel [a stand-alone] set in Miami and Columbia, and secondly from PanMacmillan we have Peter James’ fifteenth Roy Grace police procedural Dead at First Sight, set in Brighton, England as well Germany and America.

I pondered upon the diffuse line that separates crime, from the horror sub-genres of Thriller Fiction, as both Thomas Harris and Peter James could be considered as penning Crime Fiction work, that has a generous slice of the horrors that this world contains. It is well known that Peter James carries out extensive research for his Brighton based police thrillers. And Thomas Harris alludes chillingly to the New York Times, in a similar vein “I don’t make anything up, because everything I write about has happened”.

Read More HERE from Peter James as he explores the dark and dangerous side of internet dating, a prelude to his research for Dead at First Sight.

Read More HERE from Thomas Harris in this very rare interview from The New York Times, as he talks about Cari Mora.

That line between what we consider Criminal and what we term Horrific is indeed diffuse, as evidenced when you read either Peter James and Thomas Harris.

It seems like only yesterday when Barry Forshaw, Mark Timlin, Carla McKay and I sat with Peter, for lunch at The Wolsey. He had just embarked on the Police Procedurals, with Dead Simple out in Paperback [his first in the series], and Looking Good Dead just out in hardcover. I recall that lunch vividly, because looking back at the time, I actually discussed the work of Thomas Harris and the gothic character Dr Hannibal Lecter. Little did any of us know that later, much later Peter James’s Roy Grace Detective Series would beat Thomas Harris’ own work.

Then we shifted our conversation to the return of Thomas Harris and the release last week of Hannibal Rising. Mark and I were both enthusiastic about this fourth outing for Dr. Lecter, while we knew that Barry and Carla were lukewarm on the subject, at best. But like civilized people, we came to agreement on the opinion that Red Dragon (1981) and The Silence of the Lambs (1988) represent the twin pinnacles of Harris’ work. (It’s interesting, by the way, that Peter James references The Silence of the Lambs in his latest detective thriller.)

Read more HERE

Many of us recall Peter James’ early work, his film interests as well as his foray within the Horror Genre.

“……his early work in the horror genre, which had won him designation as “the British Stephen King.” I used to be heavily involved in that genre, and enjoyed some of Peter’s horror novels, such as Host, Possession, and Prophecy. But he’s not one to be constrained by genre boundaries; Peter has published thrillers as well as horror, and Dead Simple is the first entry in a police procedural series featuring Superintendent Roy Grace of the Brighton, England, constabulary.”

Read more about the early days HERE

So, what have readers in store from Peter James’ DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT?

You don’t know me, but I thought I knew you . . .

A man waits at a London airport for Ingrid Ostermann, the love of his life, to arrive. Across the Atlantic, a retired NYPD cop waits in a bar in Florida’s Key West for his first date with the lady who is, without question, his soulmate. The two men are about to discover they’ve been scammed out of almost every penny they have in the world – and that neither women exist.

Meanwhile, a wealthy divorcée plunges, in suspicious circumstances, from an apartment block in Munich. In the same week, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to investigate the suicide of a woman in Brighton, that is clearly not what it seems. As his investigations continue, a handsome Brighton motivational speaker comes forward. He’s discovered his identity is being used to scam eleven different women, online. The first he knew of it was a phone call from one of them, out of the blue, saying, ‘You don’t know me, but I thought I knew you’. That woman is now dead.

Roy Grace realizes he is looking at the tip of an iceberg. A global empire built on clever, cruel internet scams and the murder of anyone who threatens to expose them.

Read the Shots Mag Review HERE from Gwen Moffat

And, what have readers in store from Thomas Harris’ CARI MORA?

Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men.

Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.

Monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival.

Read the Shots Mag Review HERE from Ali Karim

Both these highly recommended crime thrillers, could be considered horrific in terms of what they reveal about what surrounds us - because both writers research heavily, and what they uncover is unsettling. They are also available as unabridged audio narrations, downloadable from Audible.co.uk as are many great novels, more information about the importance of the audio sector. Click HERE

The popularity in crime fiction reached a tipping point last year, when it was reported

British readers have become more gripped by crime and thriller novels, with sales up by 19% between 2015 and 2017, new figures suggest.

The rise has been fuelled by the growth of psychological thrillers and the success of big names like Lee Child, James Patterson and Dan Brown.

Last year, 18.7 million crime books were sold - 19% more than in 2015, data company Nielsen Bookscan says.

They overtook sales for general and literary fiction, which were down 16%.

Read More HERE

And many other great works of Crime and Thrillers on the UK Book Charts with authors leaving their Pitons on the Nielsen Bookscan with CHRIS CARTER, TIM WEAVER, JEFFERY DEAVER, MARK BILLINGHAM, MICHAEL CONNELLY, JAMES PATTERSON (in-concert with Bill Clinton), LEE CHILD, STEPHEN KING and HEATHER MORRIS

So as both Thomas Harris [the creator of Dr Hannibal Lector] and Peter James [the creator of the character Roy Grace] released their latest novels in the same week, what did Nielsen Bookscan [the industry standard in terms of book sales] report?

It seems, in a book chart dominated by Crime and Thriller Fiction, DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT by PETER JAMES was the Numero Uno in the UK.

In these days of anxiety, depression and worry, it has been widely acknowledged that reading novels is an excellent form of relief.

Read more about Bibliotherapy HERE

And both Peter James’ DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT and Thomas Harris’ CARI MORA read back-to-back is a great dose, to steer ones’ thinking, as counter intuitive as it may appear with such dark books.

Remember that to fight the fire, we sometimes have to use fire, as anyone who has worked in Oil Field and Chemical Incidents knows.

Below Peter James reads the first chapter from DEAD AT FIRST SIGHT, the biggest selling novel in the UK >

While below - the first appearance of Dr Hannibal Lecktor, as played by Brian Cox in Michael Mann's 1986 Manhunter featuring William Petersen playing Will Graham. Note Dr Lecter's name was spelled Lecktor for this adaptation of Thomas Harris' 1981 novel RED DRAGON

I would urge you to seek out these two outstanding novels of Crime that feature the Horrors that lie beneath the cracks of our reality.

Peter James in Review & Competition 2014

It’s been a very active year for one of Britain’s leading crime writers, Peter James and a very busy bloke. Over a festive lunch, Mike Stotter and I reflected over what 2014 has held in store for readers of James’ dark tales.

Firstly, as the demand for Peter James work from his readers is intense, he finally agreed to re-release his long since out of print Espionage Drama DEAD LETTER DROP at the start of the year.

Max Flynn, undercover agent, has the unenviable job of spying on his own side. When to kill, who to kill, whether to kill are all questions which have to be answered at great speed if he wants to stay alive. But why does an innocuous airline ticket No. 14B matter so much? Who has gone to the trouble of committing suicide? And could Flynn's beautiful companion be a spy? The hazy, murky world of counter espionage leaves no room for errors of judgement and Flynn knows he’s finished if he makes one false move.

Peter James wrote about why he decided to bring back into print this wonderful little tale -

In an interview recently, I was asked the question, which day was the most exciting day of my life.  I had to think quite hard, as there were a few contenders.  The day I first learned that my Roy Grace novel, Dead Like You, had gone to No. 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list, was a big contender.  This year, when I achieved another dream, to drive my 1965 BMW in the Goodwood Revival St Mary’s Trophy motor race – and finished 10^th overall – was another massive moment.

But there was one clear winner, and that was the day in May 1980, when I received an excited phone call from my then literary agent, Jon Thurley, telling me that my first novel Dead Letter Drop, had been accepted for publication!  And not only that, they were offering me a two-book deal!  The advance was a princely £2,000 – OK, not a fortune, even in those days, but it didn’t matter.  I was about to become a published author.

Read More here

Also at the start of the year the stage adaptation of his bestselling novella, The Perfect Murder embarked on a UK-wide tour of the country's leading theatres. With an all-star cast led by Robert Daws (star of ITV’s The Royal, Roger Roger, Outside Edge and West End productions of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes and Public Property), Dawn Steele (star of ITV’s Wild at Heart, Sea of Souls and Monarch of the Glen and theatre productions of Verdict, Blackbird and Volcano in the West End), Gray O’Brien, (star of Coronation Street, Casualty and Peak Practice and Sleuth in the West End), Thomas Howes who played the much loved character of William the footman in Downton Abbey and whose theatre credits include the National Theatre production of The History Boys and Simona Armstrong, finalist in the BBC’s search for a ‘Maria’.

Victor Smiley and his wife Joan have been married for a long time. But their marriage has reached crisis point and Victor has decided there is only one way to get Joan out of his life forever... but he’s about to get a nasty surprise... As a young Detective Roy Grace starts to investigate his very first homicide case, dark forces intervene and Grace begins to fear that nothing is quite as it seems.

Then Peter James released his tenth Roy Grace thriller in June WANT YOU DEAD which not surprisingly shot up the book charts. Wayne Brooks, Peter’s Editor at Pan Macmillan, says: “Peter James is at the peak of his writing career and Want You Dead, is his most shocking and thrilling book to date. I couldn’t think of a better novel to celebrate ten years of Roy Grace with”

And thirdly - Peter James is not a writer constrained by the walls of genre, as his Roald Dahl-esque collection of sinister little tales A TWIST OF THE KNIFE has just been released. We’d suggest you have a glass of scotch handy when you crack the spine of these tales from the dark imagination of one of Britain’s biggest selling writers of crime and horror fiction. You will need that scotch, as these stories have a dark heart.

With each twist of the knife, a chilling new journey begins ...From a woman intent on bizarre revenge, to a restaurant critic with a morbid fear of the number thirteen; and from a man arranging a life-changing assignation, to a couple heading for a disaster-filled vacation ...In multi-million-copy bestselling author Peter James' collection of short stories we first come to meet Brighton's finest detective, Roy Grace, and read the tale that went on to inspire James' hugely successful novel, Dead Simple. James exposes the Achilles heel of each of his characters, and makes us question how well we can trust ourselves, and one another. Each tale carries a twist that will haunt readers for days after they turn the final page ...Combining every twisted tale from the ebook bestsellers Short Shockers One and Short Shockers Two, with a never-seen-before collection of new material, A Twist of the Knife shows Peter James as the undisputed grand master of storytellers with this sometimes funny, often haunting, but always shocking collection.

Many years ago, as Peter James was establishing his Roy Grace thrillers he asked Writer / Reviewers Mark Timlin, Barry Forshaw, Carla McKay and I for some lunch.  We had such a great time, this lead to Peter organising what has now become an annual tradition, The Peter James Festive Lunch. Here’s the report from our first lunch via The Rap Sheet that introduced Roy Grace of Brighton PD to the reading public.

So in order to celebrate this years lunch, Peter has kindly donated a signed copy of his collection A TWIST OF THE KNIFE to a lucky shots reader in our regular festive competition

All you have to do to win a signed copy of A TWIST OF THE KNIFE - is to name the title of Peter James’ first novel featuring Roy Grace released in 2005 -

[a] Dead Calm

[b] Dead Simple

[d] The Walking Dead

[e] Dead Good

Send your answer in an email to shotscomp@yahoo.co.uk marking the subject line “PETER JAMES FESTIVE COMPETITION” and please include a postal address.

Closing date for entries is Sunday 4^th January 2015

Terms and conditions for the Peter James Festive Competition

Closing date for entries is Sunday 4^th January 201512:00:00 AM

All correct entries will be entered into a prize draw and the first correct answer picked at random on 4 / 1 / 2015 will be declared the winner of the book.

The winner will be notified by email within 14 days of the promotion closing date and is required to accept their prize by email or phone call within 14 days of notification.

In the event of non-acceptance within the specified period, the promoter reserves the right to reallocate the prize to the next randomly drawn correct and valid entry.

The winner will be notified within 28 days of the closing date. No responsibility can be accepted for lost or misplaced entries

The prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative

Only one entry per person

Incorrect or illegible answers or entries received after the entry date will not be entered into the prize draw

The judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into

No geographical restrictions apply

The Roy Grace Series

Dead Simple [2005]

Looking Good Dead [2006]

Not Dead Enough [2007]

Dead Man's Footsteps [2008]

Dead Tomorrow [2009]

Dead Like You [2010]

Dead Man's Grip [2011]

Not Dead Yet [2012]

Dead Man's Time [2013]

Want You Dead [2014]

All of Peter’s work can be purchased with generous discounts the Shots Bookstore here

More information available from www.peterjames.com

Photographs from the 2014 Peter James Christmas Luncheon at The Ivy, London 

(c) 2014 Ali Karim - Peter James with critics Mark Lawson [top] and Jake Kerridge [Bottom]