We had a fantastic evening at West Barnes Library with authors Biba Pearce and Graham Bartlett telling us about their latest police procedural novels – The Marlow Murders and City On Fire. I wish I could remember everything they said but as per usual, I can’t remember it all. I can give you some highlights though.

 

We were able to celebrate with Biba as she had just won best crime fiction at the National Indies Excellence Awards for The Marlow Murders. Although it is a police procedural, she wanted to create an Agatha Christie style book using the village-feel community at Marlow, wintery weather and a cast of intriguing characters.

City On Fire is definitely nothing like Agatha Christie! Poor Chief Superintendent Jo Howe is having everything thrown at her. Her special operation – Operation Eradicate – has come under fire. The operation tackles addiction by taking addicts off the street and placing them in rehab, thus reducing the demand for supply. Graham explained that this was based on an operation he ran when he was in charge of Brighton and Hove. Thankfully, he didn’t face the trauma that heads Jo’s way but he still had to put up with others opposing him.

Having read a lot of Harry Bosch when she was younger, it seemed instinctive to Biba to write a male police officer. Graham chose to write a female protagonist as he didn’t want to end up writing an autobiography! In doing so, he realised how much harder it is for female police officers to reach high-ranking positions and made sure to include that in his writing.

Biba’s books are set along the River Thames in various locations. She very much sees it as part of the story with the river reflecting the mood and tone of the book, creating foreshadowing. Visitors to Brighton, often only see a few streets around the station, the beach and the pier. Graham though, knows how expansive and diverse the city really is and does his best to highlight areas that readers might not know.

As it’s National Crime Reading Month, we’ve been running a murder mystery competition in West Barnes Library. With a real (albeit retired) officer on hand, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to see if Graham could solve the case. With limited evidence (no forensics available), Graham gave it his best shot. Sadly, he was wrong. Thankfully, the majority of the people who entered the competition were correct and the killer was unmasked.

Huge thanks to Biba Pearce and Graham Bartlett for joining us. And thanks, as always, to the Friends of West Barnes Library and the staff of Merton Libraries for all their support in making these events happen.