In April 2010, I retired from Essex Police. I enjoyed my twenty-seven years as a detective and had risen to senior rank. During that time, I encountered and investigated the very worst humanity is capable of and saw things no one should see or suffer. All this...
But first, to those who have only ever seen Malta as a sun-drenched, short-haul holiday destination, a brief history of the island. Malta is a small island, approximately 30 kilometres by 15 kilometres. In 1539, the Knights of St. John, a Catholic military and...
In the 1890s there emerged a completely new character in popular fiction. He was intelligent, a master of disguise, accompanied by a faithful assistant and unorthodox. But it wasn’t Sherlock Holmes. It was the cricketer – and amateur cracksman – A.J. Raffles. Indeed,...
My first trilogy, The Comeback Trail, was based in the music business in America. It was a simple tale of a washed-up singer who accidently kills his girlfriend and discovers that the act of killing enables him to write a hit song. To give this some context, I own a...
On becoming Secretary to Elizabeth, Henry VIII’s daughter, Cecil would dominate through guile, intelligence, manipulation, spying, fear, wisdom and an acute political nouse which had served him well in his rise to power and saved his skin on more than one occasion....
Roland Dee, was a gentleman sewer in the court of Henry VIII. He likely provided cloth to the court and would have had connections with men of power. He had social standing as a warden of St Dunstans – a wealthy church in Tower Ward and was then awarded one of two...
It is with some trepidation that I write this article – my inaugural piece for Aspects of Crime – for three reasons. First, spoilers. Second, it’s personal. Third, I’ll probably end up in an argument with Charlie – and that’s not a good place to be. I think I can deal...
Hitherto - and probably still so - the SAS were often deployed as the operational wing of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) on overseas operations, but rarely on home soil on behalf of the Secret Service (MI5). Though Margaret Thatcher quite publicly did so as...
I left the police after thirty-one years as a detective inspector in charge of a Special Ops undercover drug unit which receive national acclaim. I served on CID, murder enquires, drug squads, the Regional Crime Squad and the National Crime Squad (which became the...
The purpose of this article is to express some personal thoughts about spy novels and the experiences of characters within the fictional espionage world, finally bringing a central focus onto John le Carré’s George Smiley. This seems to be an apt moment to do so as...
Many policemen had enlisted to fight in WWII or been called up, some had not come home and, of those who did, some were incapable of returning to their previous job. In London the crime rate had risen by 57% during wartime, aided by the black-out and a shortage of...
As you emerge from the Northern Line at Clapham South underground station you can see, about a hundred yards away, a concrete pillbox of a building, on the common but very close to the busy A24. Currently graffiti covered, it marks the entrance to a warren of tunnels...
The South London Hospital for Women & Children, the main location, no longer exists, although its buildings still stand. It was founded by two remarkable women, Maud Chadburn and Eleanor Davies-Colley, with the support of many others, in 1913. It was a hospital...
As you fly into Malta at night, you can see the dense, bright sparkling lights of the tourist centres of St Paul's, St Julian’s and Sliema, where the vibrant energy of the land melds into the dark expanse of the sea. Out of the left-hand windows, you may be surprised...
Interesting they kept that title. This is an actual text my mother fired off shortly after I sent her an image of my novel’s cover, which my publisher, Holand Press, had emailed me earlier that day. Mom is always my first, and in some ways, most critical reader. And...
How I’d love to have more images of my rose-tinted infant holidays on the Norfolk Broads - the sparkling River Bure, the showy white lilies, the sausage-headed river reeds, the slithery black eels and orange-beaked, stately swans. Then there’s the melting red...
Everybody has a secret. Yes you do! A study revealed that the average person keeps thirteen secrets, five of which he or she has never shared with anyone. Go on, count them! They can range from the little things that some people don’t feel are too bad, such as not...
Ancient Rome began as a small town straddling a couple of hills next to the Tiber. She needed few crime-fighting resources, and the individual citizen bore the burden of reporting crime and pursuing those who broke the law. But Rome grew, and by the time of Julius...
On the 4th April 56 BCE, the lawyer, orator and politician Cicero stood up to make his speech in defence of a friend, Caelius Rufus. The speech figures on many an A-level set text and is huge fun to teach, for Cicero is at his best, witty, dramatic and brimming with...
One of my most precious possessions is a small Roman coin. It is a tiny sliver of silver, a denarius minted in 43 BCE in Asia Minor for the army of Brutus: yes, that Brutus, assassin of Julius Caesar, the addressee in “et tu, Brute?”. Along with his fellow assassin...
The History behind the DCI Frank Merlin Books I write a series about a police detective called Frank Merlin working in World War Two London. The sixth in the series, Death Of An Officer, is being published later this month. I am often asked where I get my story ideas...
I write crime thrillers set in World War Two London. My hero is Frank Merlin, a tough and rugged police detective heading a Scotland Yard serious crimes unit. There are now five books so far in the series. It is my plan to follow Merlin’s adventures from beginning to...
Does Historical Fiction Ruin Our Historical Understanding? The Guardian newspaper used to have a column called Reel History in which the writer and historian, Alex von Tunzelmann, reviewed films in the context of historical accuracy. In her articles a host of minor or...
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