Crime triumph for Simon Hall

HE IS known for his TV reports as a BBC crime correspondent.

HE IS known for his TV reports as a BBC crime correspondent.

Now Simon Hall, a regular visitor to Sidmouth during the early days of the grounding of MSC Napoli, is proving to have found another outlet for his talent - as a crime fiction writer.

His third book, Evil Valley, published on Monday, September 15, by Accent Press Ltd at £7.99, continues the now established liaison between TV crime correspondent Dan Groves and Chief Inspector Adam Breen.

This time they team up to hunt a psychopath, bent on teaching society a lesson after the death of his best friend Sam.

He relishes leaving cryptic letters and messages for Dan as the duo try to track him down after he kidnaps a child.

There are other threads to be unravelled at the same time, regarding two fatal shootings by a police marksman.

This book has to be the best of the trio so far. It has a more confident style, better pace and paints detailed pictures of new characters such as Marcus Whiting, the Independent Police Complaints Authority commissioner.

Simon, who spoke to readers at a Sidmouth Library literary lunch about his work as a writer, also brings out his main characters more, giving Dan more colour and depth this time and allowing him to develop his romance with Detective Sergeant Claire Reynolds.

His determination to mix a busy TV reporter's life with the world of fiction appears to be paying off for Simon. Let's hope the Breen/Groves partnership continues for many more books to come.