Hastings author offers thriller Run For Cover

The series features two Met Police detectives DI Matthew Denning and DS Molly Fisher. Graeme explains: “The idea for the book came from reading Undercover: The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police by Rob Evans and Paul Lewis. I was aware of stories about how undercover police officers had sometimes become so involved in their covert lives that it was difficult for them to distinguish between what was real and what was part of their cover story. There were several instances of undercover officers having had relationships with people in the groups and organisations they’d infiltrated, and in some cases even having children with people who had no knowledge of their partner’s real identity.

“There were also allegations of some undercover officers having committed crimes, including arson. I wondered how far an undercover officer would be prepared to go to maintain their secret identity and to what extent their behaviour would be sanctioned by the state. I just pushed that idea bit further and wondered what would happen if the crime in question was murder. I’m lucky that when it comes to researching the factual accuracy of a police investigation someone put me in touch with Graham Bartlett, a former senior police office with Brighton and Hove Police, who is himself now a writer. Graham runs www.policeadvisor.co.uk, advising crime writers on the technical details of police procedure and is a great help when it comes to ensuring the books feel authentic.

“Run For Cover deviates slightly from the previous books in the series as it sees Denning working alongside the National Crime Agency, who are investigating a major league drug importer that Denning suspects of being involved in a series of brutal murders. I always plan the books before I write them. I very much admire writers who can just sit at their desk with little more than an idea and then write the book as the story comes to them. I have to have a detailed chapter breakdown in front of me as I write so that I know which direction I’m heading in, although I often end up deviating from the chapter plan as the story develops. Having said that, I am currently working on a standalone psychological thriller – set in East Sussex – for which I’m very much making it up as I go along in terms of the story. It will be interesting to see how it compares with the more densely-plotted police procedural novels.” As for the current book: “The inspiration for the book came partly from a real life incident about a year ago. My partner was helping a friend with an IT problem when they suddenly found themselves caught up in a real-life police raid. Armed police officers had surrounded a neighbouring pub to arrest someone who was staying in the upstairs flat, and I thought as this wasn’t an everyday event in Hastings, I’d like to include something similar in my next novel. I then had to work out how I could include the scene in the book, and the story sort of developed around that. Run For Cover starts with the discovery of a young woman’s body in a churchyard in East London. The victim had been part of a gang of thugs who had been robbing elderly householders, and at first it looks as though this is a falling out between gang members.”