Other writing
As well as writing crime novels, I continue to write for other media. After Henry, the sitcom I wrote for both radio and television, is, I’m glad to say, frequently repeated on the wonderful Radio 4 Extra, along with other of my series like No Commitments, Smelling of Roses and Foul Play.
On Radio 4 I am delighted that my actor detective Charles Paris is having a new lease of life, with the wonderful Bill Nighy playing the part in excellent adaptations of my novels by Jeremy Front. Some of these are available as BBC Audio Books.
I also regularly write an annual short play for the Arundel Festival Drip Action Theatre Trail.
Others of my stage plays which are regularly performed by amateur dramatic societies include ‘Murder in Play’ and ‘Silhouette’ (both in Samuel French acting editions) and ‘Murder with Ghosts’ (published by StageScripts.
So I hope to continue to keep the same variety in the stuff I write. Crime novels are enormous fun, but writing books is a solitary activity. Writing scripts to be performed by actors is much more sociable. So are those moments when I actually do a bit of acting myself. And, like all writers, I do need to get out of the house more!
Mrs Pargeter's Patio
A bizarre discovery right under Mrs Pargeter's patio turns a quiet and sunny June morning into a thrilling hunt for answers in this new instalment of the light-hearted and entertaining Mrs Pargeter mystery series.
When widow Mrs Pargeter decides to have her morning coffee on the patio of her mansion in Chigwell, her intention is to admire her beautiful garden in peace and quiet. Little does she expect one of the patio's paving slabs to crack in two, depositing her on the ground - and revealing a human skull with a neat hole in the middle of its forehead!
Not wanting to bother the police just yet, Mrs Pargeter decides to save them some trouble and starts investigating the curious find herself. And who better to assist than her late husband's 'business associates', private investigator Truffler Mason and chauffeur Gary?
The trio are soon certain that a murder has been committed and the body disposed of under some convenient building works. But who is the mysterious victim? And more importantly, who put the body under Mrs Pargeter's patio?
Mrs Pargeter and her friends must find out the truth and soon, before the finger of suspicion points in an unthinkable direction: towards the late, great Mr Pargeter, whose business dealings Mrs P remains - naturally! - in blissful ignorance of...