Worthing author delivers The Butcher of Brighton

Ashley, aged 24, said: “I’ve always had a passion for writing and seven years ago I self-published a crime novel set in Worthing. However, it wasn’t up to my current standard of writing and so I pulled it from the shelves. I always wanted to get back into writing but, since becoming a father to twins, life has been rather hectic and I never found the time to get back into writing. However, I work night shifts at the NHS and often nights can be quiet, which gave me time to get back into writing. These novels are set respectively in Worthing and Brighton so they will be sure to appeal to locals in Sussex, as well as enthusiasts of crime fiction.

“I work nights and so I had the time to write but I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t want to start with a typical police procedural. I saw a documentary about Charles Cullen, a serial killer nurse in America who killed numerous patients over nearly 20 years. Killer nurses is an interesting subject and, given I have worked in various different wards over the years, I thought it would be quite easy to set a crime novel in a hospital. Killer Caregiver is set in the fictional West Sussex Central Hospital and tells the story of James Haines, a killer nurse, from his perspective and the perspective of the police investigation. I guess I felt comfortable writing the debut novel in an environment which I am familiar with. The Butcher Of Brighton is set in Brighton. That was much easier to write as Brighton is such a huge and vast environment for a novel. I really enjoyed writing Killer Caregiver as it was different and indeed a challenge to write it from the perspective of the killer. Trying to get into his mind was an interesting experience.

“I wrote Killer Caregiver over eight months in 2023, The Butcher Of Brighton was based on a novel I wrote during lockdown but never published. Killer Caregiver and The Butcher Of Brighton are part of the Sussex Crime Stories. There will be further novels. I am slowly working on the third novel, with a working title of A Killing Chain. This novel is set in Worthing, Gatwick Airport and even abroad. Other potential novels planned include The Advent Murders, which is about a serial killer during Christmastime and Into Thin Air.

“I first published The Midnight Murders in 2017. But it was a rushed product and I was never happy with it. I republished it in 2020, and it got quite favourable reviews, but I knew that I just wanted to start from scratch without just remastering a previous novel.

“I’ve always had a passion for writing. I think this is due to my creative imagination. I just love creating different characters and different plots. Setting them in Sussex is also fun for both me and local readers as it’s quite easy to depict where these novels are taking place.”