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!
Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower
For Major Bricket, attending church in his village of Stunston Peveril in Suffolk is a good way to keep up with the village gossip. Having only recently retired from a career where he was privy to many international secrets, the Major likes to stay in the know.
Events take a turn one Sunday when, after the morning service, Major Bricket notices the door to the bell tower open... and finds a body at the bottom of the stairs. The dead man is dressed in a suit and dog collar. But who is he? And could someone in Stunston Peveril have killed him?
Perhaps predictably, most of the village residents seem more concerned with the Parish Council flower arranging rota than the mysterious corpse. Major Bricket will have to rely on his long-nurtured detection skills, and his trusted friends Nga Luong and Rod, to solve the case.