BEST-SELLING crime author Peter James is working on a non-fiction book with a former Brighton senior police officer, The Argus can reveal.

The book is expected to cover some of the major crimes in Brighton over the past 30 to 40 years, Mr James said, and could be out next year. Few details are yet available but he said: “I am actually working on a book at the moment with a former senior police officer about policing in Brighton. Hopefully I can tell you more about that later.”

The creator of fictional Brighton detective Roy Grace spoke to The Argus ahead of the publication of a new collection of short stories, A Twist of the Knife, delving into crime, psychology and the supernatural.

He told how some of his ideas sprang from a friendship with Anglican bishop and trained exorcist Dominic Walker, formerly Rural Dean of Brighton.

The 66-year-old said: “He lived in a vicarage in London Road and part of his role was that when had something they could not explain, he would go and investigate.”

Mr James said he had an “open mind” towards the supernatural, and believed his former home near Clayton in West Sussex was haunted.

He said: “It was the ghost of a previous occupant who lived there in the first half of the twentieth century. I used to see pin-pricks of light.

“It haunted mine and I think two to three [residents] before me who ended up getting divorced, as we did. Some kind of toxic atmosphere.”

The supernatural was not so far removed from detective work, he added, saying he had met “quite a number of police officers” over the years who had turned to mediums.

“Good detectives, the best detectives, are open-minded people,” he said. “They have to have an open mind to consider every possibility.”

Mr James, working on his eleventh Roy Grace novel, regularly shadows Sussex Police officers for research. He said: “I think more than anything the reason why they give me such help and access is they feel that I portray them accurately.”

  • A Twist of the Knife will be published on November 6
  • Mr James latest Roy Grace novel, Want You Dead, inspired by the true story of Dr Alison Hewitt, is out in paperback on October 23
  • Mr James will be appearing in Brighton on October 31 for a Ted talk at Brighton Dome
  • He is also doing book signings for A Twist of the Knife on November 6 and 7
  • Visit peterjames.com for more details.