As a nation, we’re hooked on crime — whether it be reading accounts of true-life cases, trying to identify the killer in a fictional detective mystery, or being let into the secrets of life on the force.
Go to your local church bazaar and inspect the bookstall – even the most peaceable types seem to love a good murder!
Three local writers who cater for our interest in crime and crime-fighters will form a panel answering questions on aspects of their writing at Frome Library on Sunday July 15th at 12.45pm. These three ‘Partners in Crime’ are Nikki Copleston, David Lassman and Sandy Osborne.
Nikki is the creator of Jeff Lincoln, a detective inspector working in the fictional town of Barbary (not a million miles from Salisbury!). Lincoln grapples with local secrets and corruption on the road to solving the murders of two teenage girls in ‘The Shame of Innocence’, while Nikki has had to master the world of police procedure to produce a gripping and realistic narrative. There is another Jeff Lincoln story as an e-book and Nikki is currently editing a third.
David Lassman is a full-time writer with a passion for true and historical crime. He is co-creator of ‘The Regency Detective’ novels, set in Jane Austen’s Bath, while his latest book, ‘The Awful Killing of Sarah Watts’ (co-written with Mick Davis) is an account of Frome’s most infamous murder and its investigation by a Scotland Yard detective in 1851.
Sandy Osborne is a serving police officer who has written about the lighter side of fighting crime. Her novel ‘Girl Cop’ takes an affectionate look at the police force as it was when the author joined in the early 1990s. It interweaves amusing anecdotes of life on the beat with the tale of PC Sally Gentle and her search for a lasting relationship.
