REVEALING the inside story of a 32-year battle for justice for two murdered schoolgirls is no small task, even for a distinguished crime author and a former police chief.

That was what thriller writer Peter James and former Brighton police commander Graham Bartlett set out to do in their latest book, Babes In The Wood.

The book, which is released today, reveals the horrific and heartbreaking impact of the murders of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Wild Park, Brighton, in October 1986.

It is a tense, absorbing and important read which helps us to understand one of the biggest crimes in Brighton’s history.

Crime fiction readers will be used to seeing Peter James’s work and he has worked with Graham Bartlett on many of his best-selling novels.

They also worked on Mr Bartlett’s account of policing Brighton called Death Comes Knocking.

So together they make a formidable team.

In The Argus they explained why a non-fiction book was needed to reveal the full inside story of how guilty man Russell Bishop walked free and struck again, nearly killing a seven-year-old girl in Whitehawk in 1990.

Like many of Mr James’s crime thrillers, the book maintains a fast pace throughout.

Short chapters take readers into the minute-by-minute events on the tragic events of October 9, 1986.

The high tempo continues through the three main parts of the book, which helps to break apart the major phases of the tragedy and battle for justice.

It includes the battle in the intervening years of the 1990s and early 2000s, as Bishop claimed unlawful arrest, and advances were made in DNA technology.

It is clear that Mr Bartlett’s input to the book is invaluable, bringing to life the experiences of officers involved in the case, with a sense of their emotions coupled with the intense pressure of a murder investigation.

He has now turned his hand to writing, and we may even expect the prospect of his first foray into the world of fiction in the near future.

In the 1980s The Argus interviewed many of the key people involved in the unfolding Babes in the Wood saga.

Our reporters interviewed and maintained contact with both families, with witnesses and with a community left in shock.

We also interviewed the “arrogant” Russell Bishop and his family upon his shock acquittal at Lewes Crown Court in December 1987. He was home for Christmas.

But a side The Argus was not able to cover in quite so much depth was the inside story of policing the biggest murder inquiry in the history of Sussex Police.

Graham’s contacts range from high and low, from former PCs still traumatised by finding Nicola and Karen’s bodies, to senior officers facing nail-biting decisions on when to charge Russell Bishop, knowing any false steps could lose the chance to prosecute him for ever.

Argus archives aside, readers will not find a more accurate, detailed and vital account of the murders.