Top 5 books about God, as chosen by Peter James

From devout Catholics gone rogue to enlightening reads, Peter James picks these top books about God   Brighton Rock Graham Greene Apart from being the book that inspired me to become a writer, this is a marvellously conflicted story of murder and eternal damnation. Pinkie is a 17-year-old boy gangster in charge of a pathetic…

Me and My Motor: The Sunday Times

Peter James’s thrillers are fast-paced but his first car was a hearse Peter James, writer of bestselling crime novels, was just two years old when he fell out of his father’s Standard Vanguard and needed 23 stitches in his head. A couple of years later, left alone in the front seat, he released the handbrake…

Best selling author to take to the editor’s chair of The Argus

BESTSELLING crime author Peter James will step in to the role of Argus editor.. . if only for a day. The popular author will take the reins as guest editor at our new offices in Manchester Street tomorrow morning and join the daily news conference, hearing what interesting stories our fantastic team of journalists are…

My Old Haunt (The Sunday Times)

Living in a house with several ghosts inspired my latest novel, says the crime writer Peter James My latest novel, The House on Cold Hill, was inspired by my experience of living in a haunted house; a beautiful Georgian manor on the edge of a hamlet in Sussex. There had been a monastery on the…

Peter James’s top 10 books about Brighton (The Guardian)

Published Wednesday 13 May 2015 12.13 BST From Julie Burchill to Jane Austen, the crime novelist picks his favourite fiction featuring a city ‘perpetually helping police with their inquiries’Noël Coward once described Brighton thus: “Ah, dear Brighton, piers, queers and racketeers.” And Keith Waterhouse said: “Brighton has the air of a town that is perpetually…

More funerals and a wedding (The Argus)

First published Friday 20 February 2015 by Duncan Hall Duncan Hall speaks to Sussex-based author Peter James about the stage adaptation of his novel Dead Simple. A STAG night prank gone wrong announced Brighton’s most famous detective to the wider world, and launched a series of books which has now sold in excess of 14…

Tales of the unexorcised (Sunday Express)

Do ghosts exist? Bestselling author Peter James thinks so having seen one. As we approach Halloween he tells the tale of spooky sightings in his home. I have a dentist friend whose family was regularly chased along a corridor of their house by an angry female ghost and only recently a neighbour had all his…

Crime author Peter James meets fans (The Argus)

Can James grab book chart crown from King? A CRIME author is hoping to bag another number one as he battles it out with a legendary horror writer at the top of the bestseller book charts. Peter James has been meeting his fans in Sussex this week to mark the release of his tenth Roy…

Peter James’s Brighton: My Kind of Town (The Telegraph)

Peter James, the crime author, reveals his favourite haunts in Brighton, the setting of his Roy Grace novel series Why Brighton? Brighton’s unique in that it’s got a quite dramatic coastline on one side, and only a few miles north there is the South Downs national park (0300 303 1053; www.southdowns.gov.uk) and some of the…

Peter James: The man who gave us Detective Superintendent Roy Grace (Khaleej Times)

Sudeshna Sarkar / 15 March 2014 Peter James has turned his killer instinct to perfect use, plotting a series of spine-tingling murders that have sold over 14 million copies. SUDESHNA SARKAR catches the man who gave the world 
Detective Superintendent Roy Grace in the act By his own admission Peter James would have probably remained…

Crime alert at Geneva airport (North East West South)

As the new season gets under way, skiers using Geneva airport need to be vigilant after early reports of passengers being robbed of valuable hand luggage. Claire Talbot reports. You really don’t expect it, not in Switzerland. Great skiing and punctual trains yes. Daylight robbery – no. But if you’re going to Geneva airport, hang…

Man and the Mystery

Bestselling crime-fiction writer and producer PETER JAMES chats with DIVYA KAUSHIK on interesting stories which gave birth to his spine-chilling thrillers Thank God Peter James thought of weaving his real-life encounters and stories he came across into bestselling thrillers, else the world would have been deprived of such nail-biting, spine-chilling novels. He truly is the…

The Renaissance Man

By Shantanu David The Indian Express Bestselling and award-winning author, BAFTA-nominated filmmaker (The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino), automobile collector, racing car driver, criminologist, paranormal researcher, skier. No, this is not a roll-call of a high-achiever’s club but Peter James’ resume. Best-known for his numerous award-winning crime fiction series featuring Detective Inspector Roy Grace,…

Crime-writing novelists draw morbid laughs

By Corrie Tan Singapore Straits Times The crime-writing novelists of the Singapore Writers Festival panel Criminal Minds explored humanity’s dark underbelly – with plenty of morbid laughs along the way. Best-selling British crime novelist Peter James, journalist Lucy Hawking (daughter of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking) and American mystery writer Ed Lin spoke to an…

Unstoppable on the page and the track (Business Day)

Bestselling crime writer Peter James finds the side effects of his car-racing more agonising than writing, writes Sue Grant-Marshall It amuses international bestselling crime-thriller novelist Peter James that on his most recent visit to Joburg, he was warned he would be “mugged getting into a taxi and mugged getting out of it”. No wonder he…

Vote for county’s outstanding citizen (The Argus)

Voting ends on 7 September – VOTE FOR PETER JAMES HERE! The final category to preview this year is the Outstanding Contribution to Sussex Award. This is handed to someone who has professionally or personally made the county a better place. The winner should be someone who is an inspiration to us all. The bar…

Peter James releases his latest Sussex thriller (The District Post)

By BENJAMIN CORENNews Reporter International best-selling crime author and Henfield man, Peter James released the latest in his Roy Grace series, Dead Man’s Time, yesterday. (Thursday, June 6). Speaking to The District Post about the novel, Peter said: “It’s a thriller about burglary in Brighton in which 10 million pounds worth of antiques is taken.…

I had to hire a bodyguard and install security cameras (Daily Express)

It’s not just women who suffer at the hands of stalkers. During their lifetime, nine per cent of men, compared with 18 per cent of women, have been victims of stalking and last year alone in the UK three per cent of men were victims. Top crime author Peter James is one of them. His…

PJ V THE MIGHTY “BASHER” BASLEY

I bet not many of you know I had a past as a boxer! Well, here is an account of my last fight, aged thirteen and a half, which I have relived to help save its venue for the residents of the area. For all those of you who might like to make a donation/buy…

Award for rape film project (West Sussex County Times)

A best-selling crime author says he is thrilled and honoured with an award from Sussex Police for a film he created exposing the dangers of rape to school children. Peter James – who lives near Henfield and is best known for his Roy Grace detective series – has won the Sussex Police Outstanding Public Service…

Famous Brighton detective gets his own walk (The Argus)

By Neil Vowles11:30am Thursday 9th August 2012 Book lovers are being given the chance to follow in the footsteps of a fictional detective on the trail of a murderer round Brighton and Hove. For the first time ever, fans of bestselling crime novelist Peter James will be able to take a tour of the sites…

Author Peter James And Sidekick Track Seaside Crime (NPR Books)

Listen to the storyMorning Edition [7 min 20 sec] Correction Aug. 7, 2012Earlier Web versions of this story, as well as the audio, included a description of a scene in one of Peter James’ books, and gave the wrong title of the book in which the scene is included. Any tour of Brighton, England, has…

Desert Island Books: Peter James (The National)

Carla McKay Jul 22, 2012 We speak with the author Peter James to get his recommendations for the best books to take to a desert island. Peter James is a crime thriller writer who has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the past few years during which he has sold more than 11 million…

Independent Booksellers’ Week: authors’ favourite bookshops (The Guardian)

guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 July 2012 12.41 BST. The pressures on independent bookshops show no sign of relenting – more than 200 have closed since 2009 leaving only 1094 still trading this year. The annual celebration Independent Booksellers’ Week has seen a range of initiatives around the UK, from a crime writers’ festival at London’s Goldsboro…

INSIDE THE HIDDEN ROYAL PAVILION OF NOT DEAD YET!

Those of you who have read Not Dead Yet might enjoy this review and in particular some of the photographs…showing parts of the Royal Pavilion that appear in the book and which visitors never get to see! http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/murder-in-the-royal-pavilion-peter-james-not-dead-yet/

The name’s James, Peter James (Meanjin)

Chris Flynn June 07 At the Picador party I was fortunate enough to attend in Sydney recently as part of the writer’s festival, my eyes zeroed in on two of Pan Macmillan’s literary stars—Tara Moss, who seemed to be somewhere in the region of nine feet tall in real life, and debonair British crime writer…

Peter James on Martin Amis (Quote Unquote)

Posted by Stephen Stratford Never annoy a novelist, Part II. I blogged on Friday about how the crime writer Peter James was once snubbed by Martin Amis and swore to take his revenge in the next novel in his series featuring policeman Roy Grace. I am reading that novel, Not Dead Yet, and confirm that…

Peter James: how I hit back at my stalker – and Martin Amis (Sunday Telegraph)

By Cole Moreton27 May 2012 Best-selling crime novelist Peter James is seeking revenge – on his stalker and novelist Martin Amis. The Home Secretary had better watch out. The last woman who upset Peter James is now on a mortuary slab. “She wrote something really nasty about me, so that was my revenge,” says James.…

Research takes crime writer to scary situations (Fairfax NZ News)

Police raids, psychopaths and stalkers HANNAH FLEMING Best selling crime author Peter James talks to Hannah Fleming about how he got the idea for his new book and what it is like to meet killers. Peter James has been on risky police raids, spoken with some of Britain’s most dangerous psychopaths, and put up with…

Roy Grace author Peter James’ pick of infamous London crime scenes (London24)

Simon Bull, London24 editor Thursday, April 12, 2012 This is London24’s version of CSI – Crime Scenes of Interest. Bestselling crime author Peter James usually deals in fiction but here he has picked five real-life locations to write about.These are some of the most infamous places in London’s history, all connected to gruesome stories of…

Thrilling Romance (The Bookseller)

Bent’s Notes The Bookseller, 16 March 2012 While hosting the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s annual awards (the RoNAs) alongside author and columnist Jane Wenham-Jones, Crime Writers Association chair Peter James attempted to show the gathered home-counties crowd in the Gladstone Library at One Whitehall Place his softer, sexier side. Amidst some mild on-stage flirting with Wenham-Jones…

James, Feiyu and Ness to star at LBF (The Bookseller.com)

Crime writer Peter James, Chinese author and screenwriter Bi Feiyu and children’s writer Patrick Ness will be London Book Fair’s authors of the day at the 2012 event, which will take place between 16th and 18th April. The author of the day programme showcases one author each day of the Fair, through appearances at seminars,…

Peter James fundraiser helps local charity (BookBrunch)

A charity murder mystery evening co-hosted by Peter James and held at the Grand Hotel, Brighton has raised in excess of £15,000 for local crime fighting charity Sussex Crimestoppers, more than doubling last year’s total of £7,000. The evening was themed around the Mods and Rockers invasion of the seaside town during the 1960s, and…

Exploring the real clauses of crime (Manchester Evening News)

Best-seller Peter James will be talking tonight about just why writers are attracted to the dark side of life … and, he tells Sarah Walters, it’s a genre Shakespeare would have found a home in. Crime: it’s not all doom and gloom. When we catch up with best-selling crime writer Peter James – author of…

To tweet or not to tweet? (BookBrunch)

Social networking – a vital tool or the digital equivalent of timewasting fag breaks? Peter James is a convert To tweet or not to tweet? That is the (140 character limit) question. And what about Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Google+ and Blogging? Or – erm – just getting on with writing a novel. (Wozzat? – Ed.…

Is Roy Grace an Agent of Ernst Stavro Blofeld? (Shots Magazine)

Like the plot of an Ian Fleming thriller, Peter James’ remarkable Roy Grace thriller Dead Man’s Grip the seventh novel in James’ highly acclaimed detective series set at the dark edges of Brighton, has pipped Jeffery Deaver’s James Bond re-boot ‘Carte Blanche’ from the top of the UK charts, by just under 800 copies as…

Culture Shock (The Guardian)

Profile piece on Peter and his sister Genevieve on swapping roles – Peter cooks a meal for 8 and Genevieve flys a helicopter!

Cybergypsies and the Net’s wilderness years (The Independent)

Peter James on life on the Net before the Internet (from The Independent, June 1999) Once upon a time, on our lumpy centrifuge two rocks away from the sun, many squillions of milli, micfro, nano, pico, femto and attoseconds before the Net, there was – well – um – there was – sort of –…

The future of the novel

Peter James explains how reading will change in the new millennium (originally delivered as a speech to the Booksellers Association conference in April 1998) The Observer recently selected a number of items which it predicted would fetch a fortune as prized antiques in a Sotheby’s salesroom in one hundred years time. I was very gratified…