Stuart Pawson
Stuart Pawson lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire, with his wife, Doreen, and can often be found tramping across the moors that form a backdrop to his stories. He started writing seriously after a career as an engineer followed by five years with the probation service, mediating between offenders and their victims. His first book, The Picasso Scam, was well received by the critics, and that difficult second one was described as being 'actually better than his excellent debut', which gave him a great deal of satisfaction. He has now written a total of eleven and likes to think that the momentum has been maintained. Stuart and his wife have no children and no cats, but reluctantly confess to owning four extremely lustful tortoises.
"The seven of us - and every other writer - are probably striving for a different approach to the art of crime writing with every book we produce. Plus we are different people with differing experiences, attitudes, tastes, etcetera. The search for a new angle never ends. That said, we all have certain characteristic traits. My books, for example, are regarded as police procedurals, although I call them crime novels. I put quite a bit of humour in them, but try not to let this detract from the seriousness of the subject matter."
Stuart adds:
“The title of the latest book, published last November, is GRIEF ENCOUNTERS. We agonised for hours on whether to call it GRIEF ENCOUNTER (singular, as per the film) but eventually decided to add the final s. I'm really pleased with this one and looking forward to its publication. It's a Charlie Priest story, of course, and hopefully a little on the unusual side.
I've finally knuckled down and produced what will hopefully be Chapter 1 of book 13 in Charlie's adventures. All I need now is Chapter 2. It's not how I prefer to work - I would like to be able to see the complete story stretching out in front of me - but time dictates that I get something down on paper.
SHOOTING ELVIS is being published in Italy, which is my first foray into an overseas market. I can't imagine how the translator will deal with some of the Yorkshire-isms. August 14 will see us at the Knaresborough FEVA Festival, billed as "An evening with Stuart Pawson". Makes me feel like Billy Connolly. I'm not sure what is expected, so I may have to fall back on my Leonard Cohen impression.”
Website: www.meanstreets.co.uk
“OK, listen up...anybody who’s never done a murder enquiry but would like to, raise your hand”. Everybody calls me Charlie... I encourage it.... we’re a team, and I know that every one of them would risk his or her neck for me, and I for them. So says DI Charlie Priest as his reliable crew at Heckley Police Headquarters are presented with a bizarre murder that leads to the discovery of low-tech industrial espionage. But is selling your employer’s confidential records enough to warrant this particularly sadistic murder?
Priest is content in his work, and his home life shows signs of improving. When his girlfriend, a former world-class athlete known as La Gazelle, wins her comeback race his happiness overflows. But all is not well in his team of hand-picked detectives and old enmities begin to surface. The next victim is murdered in even more bizarre circumstances, and Charlie begins to wonder if he himself is a catalyst that motivates the killer. When his suspicions are confirmed he realises that he is embroiled in much more than a hunt for a murderer. And that the case has now become personal....
Shooting Elvis (Allison & Busby, published: February 2006) ISBN 978-0-7490-8113-3
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Joe Crozier, a businessman with a decidedly shady past, is enjoying a pleasant evening of being wined and dined in all the best places. But the congenial atmosphere is shattered when his host yet again tries to persuade him to sell his nightclub, the Painted Pony. Refusing this time, however, costs Joe more than he could have imagined. Bound and gagged, he takes a silent and deadly dip in the nearby river. Meanwhile, Charlie Priest is called to another murder scene – only to find that the victim is an old school friend of his, the famous mountaineer, Tony Krabbe.
But what could this amiable lecturer have done to deserve being attacked with his own ice-pick? And could the two cases be linked? As girlfriends from Krabbe’s past return to savage his carefully built reputation, Charlie’s own love life takes a turn for the worse. Charlie is both desperate to help his girlfriend and to seek out the truth in the murder cases, but can love and work make comfortable bedfellows... or will Charlie finally be pushed over the edge?
Over the Edge (Allison & Busby, published: March 2005) ISBN 978-0-7490-8245-1
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The sun is shining in Heckley, and DI Charlie Priest is wisecracking his way through the daily routine. Work is, if not quite relaxed, at least stress free. The biggest case on the books? A petty thief pinching underwear from washing lines of unsuspecting housewives. Charlie’s pretty confident he can handle it. And the detective has another reason to be cheerful - his love life is on the up. Local geology teacher, Rosie Barraclough has fallen for his charms and romance is the order of the day. But all good things come to an end and its not long before the clouds roll in.
Two people nearly die after eating contaminated food from a local supermarket and if that wasn’t enough, intelligence soon reaches him that an organised dog-fighting ring has set up operations nearby. Charlie’s relationship has reached a rocky patch too – Rosie has cooled considerably towards him and it seems she could be hiding something. When Charlie gets to the bottom of her change of heart he is somewhat concerned, but offers his help nonetheless. But, as he’s about to learn, sometimes helping only makes things worse....
Limestone Cowboy (Allison & Busby, published: October 2003) ISBN 978-0-7490-8360-1
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A grey day in Heckley and all is not well. Colinette Jones is the prettiest girl in school: athletic, charming and with everything to live for. What’s more, she’s never late home. So when she fails to show up for her supper, and a body is discovered half a mile from her house, DI Charlie Priest knows he’s got to make the house call that every mother dreads. Elsewhere another woman breaks with routine in the most horrific of ways – found dead at the side of an unlit lane. Plain Laura Heeley, married to the boy from the next street, two kids within three years and a mundane existence punctuated by episodes of Emmerdale and her twice-weekly visits to the bingo. A single stab wound is the only evidence of violence.
What could connect the two women except their untimely demises? Could there be more to a spate of other seemingly motiveless attacks than meets the eye? And what is the link with a tragic Sixties rock star? Constricted by the foot-and-mouth crisis, the town takes on a claustrophobic air and Priest must trap the killer before he strikes again. But where to begin? Perhaps the fresh gales atop Britain’s highest peaks might get the old grey matter working...
Laughing Boy (Allison & Busby, published: October 2002) ISBN 978-0-7490-0647-1
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- The other, earlier, Charlie Priest books are:
- Chill Factor
Some By Fire
Deadly Friends
Last Reminder
Judas Sheep
Mushroom Man
The Picasso Scam
