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I was born in
Blackheath, London, England, in 1938 and spent the first years of my
life there. My schooling was very interrupted, both by frequent
moves and by ill-health. Due partially to this I read a great deal,
and had parents who gave me time and attention. My parents also
enjoyed reading, and so I had a lot of encouragement. I remember we
had a good selection of books to choose from, covering a variety of
topics in both fiction and non-fiction. In my early years, up until
I was about 10 I enjoyed books by various authors including, Lewis
Carroll and Charles Kingsley. I especially remember, and have a
great fondness for a book of his called Hereward the
Wake.
When I was a teenager (yes, I actually was one!) I went
to my father with a particular problem hoping he could help me.
However, instead of telling him the problem I stood there humming
and hawing and became extremely frustrated as I was just not being
able to get across what I wanted to say. At which point I said, ' I
can't explain it very well, but I know what I mean.' And he said to
me, 'No, you don't know what you mean. If you did, you would have
the words to explain it.' And he was right. Words, the precise
words, are important and they can only come once an idea has been
grasped, fully.
My father was very good at getting to the
essence of a problem, in his work as an astronomer, mathematician
and nuclear physicist he was used to dealing with precise details
and language. He was therefore able to explain things in a way that
was exact and vivid. This lesson has stayed with me and has helped
immensely.
Another trait I was taught as a child was trust.
During the time when I was recovering from illness and staying with
friends in the Bahamas, one of the instructions I received was, if
told to do something, then do it immediately and without question.
One day I was swimming in the sea and was told quite calmly to get
out of the water. I obeyed because I respected and trusted the
people who were looking after me. When I was on the jetty I
discovered the cause of my friends concern, in the sea close to
where I had been swimming a shark had appeared.
Although I
had various jobs there was never anything I seriously wished to do
except write. It was my father who was responsible for encouraging
me to write my ideas down. However, I was in my very early twenties
before I started putting together the first semblance of a book. I
was living in the county of Northumberland, in a small town called
Hexham, not far from Hadrian's Wall, when I started writing the
first draft of Come Armageddon. When I did finally begin that book
in earnest, earlier this year, I was able to use the original
manuscript for reference. It took twenty years before my first book
was accepted for publication, by which time I was in my
late-thirties. During that time I had various jobs in order to earn
an income: clerical, retail selling, fashion, air stewardess, ship
and shore stewardess, limousine dispatcher in Beverly Hills and
insurance underwriter.
I began writing mysteries set in
Victorian London on a suggestion from my step- father as to who Jack
the Ripper might have been. I found that I was totally absorbed by
what happens to people under pressure of investigation, how old
relationships and trusts are eroded, and new ones formed. The Cater
Street Hangman, the first of my books to be accepted for
publication, came out in 1979. I don't know how many books I wrote
before that. I do remember being delighted that I finally had one in
print!
A friend asked me why my second novel, Callander
Square is set in 1883, almost a full two years after The Cater
Street Hangman. When I first wrote them it caused me no concern as I
had no idea that a series would develop. However, I soon realised
that I would have to shorten the time gap otherwise Pitt would soon
be a very old man! I wrote on a book to book basis until about ten
years ago when I changed publishers and was first offered a multiple
contract.
I began the 'Monk' series in order to explore a
different , darker character, and to raise questions about
responsibility, particularly that of a person for acts he cannot
remember. How much of a person's identity is bound up in memory? All
our reactions, decisions, etc spring from what we know, have
experienced. We are in so many ways the sum of all we have been!
I have now very nearly finished the second and final volume
involving Tathea, which I began when my agent said to me that I had
a better book in me than I had written so far. After I had thought
for a long time I realised that what I really wanted, was a quest, a
search for truth. It has been my highest ambition to write something
that would enrich and inspire others as I have been enriched and
inspired by the writers of the past.
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