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Bio/Biblio

Biography

I was born and brought up in London and educated, unsuccessfully, at a particularly horrible all-girls' boarding school. I was dyslexic before dyslexia was known and recognised so I looked pretty stupid on paper.

Things looked up after I went to the City and Guilds of London Art School and later to the Royal Academy Schools of Art. I swore I would never try to write or do maths ever again.

Since then I've worked as a graphic designer, furniture designer, shop assistant, cleaner, hair inserter and colouring artiste at Madame Tussaud's Waxwork museum. Anything to feed the family. Clearly, I never managed to sell many paintings. Also, briefly, I was a roadie for one of the worst bands in London. It was not a steady, well-paid job, but it did provide me with some great material for later on.

Things looked up again when I broke my promise and whiled away a freezing cold winter and spring by writing a detective story which grew into a novel (Dupe.) I still can't spell, but fortunately other people can; and now I have a computer that can too. Spelling turned out to be pretty unimportant - who'da thunk it?

These days I live in Bath about ten minutes walk away from my daughter. Things are still looking up.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOVELS First publication

DUPE London, Collins, 1980
BAD COMPANY London, Collins, 1982
STALKER London, Collins, 1984
HEADCASE London, Collins, 1985
UNDER CONTRACT London, Collins, 1986
RIFT London, Collins, 1988
BACKHAND London, Chatto & Windus, 1991
BUCKET NUT London, Chatto & Windus, 1992
MONKEY WRENCH London, Chatto & Windus, 1994
MUSCLEBOUND London, Bloomsbury, 1997
GIMME MORE London, Bloomsbury, 2000
BALLAD OF A DEAD NOBODY, iUniverse 2010
MISS TERRY, iUniverse 2012
LADY BAG, iUniverse 2013

CROCODILES AND GOOD INTENTIONS, iUniverse 2018

GIFT OR THEFT, iUniverse 2020

THE SHORT-ORDER DETECTIVE Gatekeeper 2024

Anthologies as co-editor

1st CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin)
London, Chatto & Windus, 1992
2nd CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin)
London, Chatto & Windus, 1993
3rd CULPRIT (with Michael Z. Lewin and Peter Lovesey) London, Chatto & Windus, 1994


SHORT STORIES First Published in

"Spasmo" A CLASSIC ENGLISH CRIME (90)
"Uniform" NEW CRIMES (89)
"K.K." MURDER & COMPANY (88) BBC Radio, (08)
"Lucky Dip" A WOMAN’S EYE (91)
"In Those Days" 1ST CULPRIT (92)
"Where’s Stacy?" 2ND CULPRIT (93)
"Reconstruction" LONDON NOIR (94)
"Doing It Under the Table" BBC RADIO (92) LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Chalk Mother" BBC RADIO (93) BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON (94)
"Solar Zits" WOMEN ON THE CASE (96)
"A Card or a Kitten" A CLASSIC XMAS CRIME (95)
"Love In Vain" NO ALIBI (95)
"Walking Blues" BLUE LIGHTNING (98)
"Queen of Mean" TART NOIR (02)
"Indian Throw" HER MAJESTY (02)
"Woke Up This Morning" LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Listen" LUCKY DIP and Other Stories (03)
"Art, Marriage and Death" Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (05)
"Kali in Kensington Gardens" THE VERDICT OF US ALL (06)
"The Old Story" THE IDEAS EXPERIMENT (06) Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (07)
"Whole Life" Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (10)
"Mr Bo"Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (11)
"I Am Not Fluffy" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (13)
"Day or Night", DEADLY PLEASURES (13)
"A Hand" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (14)
"Ghost Station", MOTIVES FOR MURDER (16)

"Health and Safety" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (17)

"Life and Death in T-Shirts" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (17)

"My People" Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (20)

"When I'm Feeling Lucky" Hayakawa Mystery Magazine (21)

"Hard Hearts" MY PEOPLE and Other Crime Stories (21)

"Never Enough"  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (22)

"Don''t Push Me"  Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (24)

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

LUCKY DIP and Other Stories, Crippen & Landru 2003

MY PEOPLE and Other Crime Stories, Gatekeeper, 2021


AWARDS:

John Creasey Memorial Prize, for DUPE, 1982
(CWA award for best first novel of the year)

CWA Dagger nomination, UNDER CONTRACT, 1987
(for best novel)

MWA Edgar nomination, for DUPE, 1983
(for best novel)

CWA Silver Dagger, for BUCKET NUT, 1993

MWA Edgar nomination, for BACKHAND, 1993
(for best novel)

Anthony Award (for short story), “Lucky Dip”, 1993

The Marlowe (Germany) for MUSCLEBOUND, 1998

 

2015: Deutscher Krimi Preis (Kategorie International Platz 2) für Lady Bag (Lady Bag)
2017: Deutscher Krimi Preis (Kategorie International Platz 2) für Miss Terry (Miss Terry)
2019: Radio-Bremen-Krimipreis für Ballade einer vergessenen Toten und ihr Gesamtwerk

Miscellany

Two years in late '80s as coach to Frome Fliers Women's basketball team. Won 17 Lost 3.

Co-creative director of The Sardine Circus.

Creator of Equal Opportunities cribbage.

Co-creator of Cribbage v the Universe