INTERNATIONAL best-selling Sussex crime author Peter James is, by anyone's standards, having a very successful 2021.

The first of his famous Roy Grace novels aired as an ITV drama last month - with many more in the pipeline - and his next novel is just months away.

On top of this, a tour of a Roy Grace stage play is set to start in June and the invented detective's ever-hectic schedule continues later this year when he will star in a novella as part of a government programme to encourage people into reading.

But the 72-year-old's path to crime-writing royalty was not a straightforward one, and was instead forged by a series of chance encounters with Brighton law enforcement's finest.

The Argus: A scene from ITV's GraceA scene from ITV's Grace

Peter's first published work as an author came in the form of a pair of spy thrillers.

"I definitely knew I wanted to be a writer," he told me. "I read an article back in about 1978 saying there was a shortage of spy thrillers because Ian Fleming had died. So I thought I could write a spy thriller, and I did actually. I basically made it up. 

"It was a sort of slightly James Bond-y spoof. It was called Dead Letter Drop and, to my amazement, it was published. And to my even bigger amazement it completely didn’t sell. 
"I had a two book deal and the second one also didn’t sell, I literally only sold about 1,800 copies, of which most were to public libraries. 

The Argus: A scene from ITV crime drama GraceA scene from ITV crime drama Grace

"I met someone from Penguin at a party and she said, ‘Why on earth are you writing spy thrillers?’.

"I said: ‘Well I thought I could, you know, make a success of it.

"She told me: ‘You will never make a success of something that you cannot research and you don’t have access to.’ 

"Firstly, you’ve got to write something you’re passionate about. And, secondly, what can you ever know about the world of spies when you’re up against people like John Le Carre who has come out of the security services?

"If you want to succeed as an author then you’ve got to find something that you can access."

The spy novels were published between 1981 and 1982, the same time his house in Brighton was targeted by burglars.

The Argus: Grace was filmed in Sussex last yearGrace was filmed in Sussex last year

"A young detective called Mark Harris from Brighton CiD came to take fingerprints," Peter said. "His wife was also a detective there, she was in child protection.

"We got friendly and he saw my books. He said: ‘If you ever want any help with the police, give me a call’. 

"He invited my then wife and I for a barbecue at their house and a dozen of their friends were there. They were all local, Sussex Police officers; homicide detectives, traffic. 

"I was just fascinated by them and I thought, ‘nobody sees more of human life than someone has in a 30-year career as a police officer’. 
"That was really the start of it all for me, writing about the police."
The Argus: John Simm as detective Roy GraceJohn Simm as detective Roy Grace

Peter said that, when the officers were sure he "wasn’t just out to get a story I could flog to The Argus", they began to trust him and share more details of their work.

He would spend shifts with them in their response cars, watching their each and every move, then drawing on this for inspiration for his work.

Peter started introducing more police characters into the psychological thrillers he was writing, and they proved progressively more popular.

Then, in 1997, he was introduced to a young Detective Inspector called Dave Gaylor. Little did he know when he wandered into the DI's office, he was meeting the inspiration for what would soon become his best-loved character.

Peter said: "I went into Dave's office, then at Hove Police Station, and it was just covered with these blue and green plastic crates bulging with folders. 

"I said, 'Oh, are you moving', and he said, ‘No, I’m a homicide detective and I’ve just been tasked with reopening all the cold cases in Sussex where there is still somebody alive who could benefit from the investigation’.

"He continued, ‘Where there’s a chance of a member of the victim’s family around who could still be grateful. We are using the latest advances in DNA and forensics'.

"He pointed to the crates on the ground and said: ‘Each one of these is a principle case file of an unsolved murder. They are the last chance the victim and their families have of justice and closure.’

"And I just loved that human image about him. He asked what I was writing at the time. I was halfway through a psychological thriller called Denial, and he said ‘tell me about it’.
The Argus: Dave GaylorDave Gaylor

"I started to talk him through it he said, ‘Hang on a sec, I don’t think your character would have done that. Why isn’t your detective doing this? Why hasn’t he got an outside enquiry team looking at that?’.

"I thought, wow, this guy has got a really creative side to him. He helped me on the next two books I wrote and, in 2002, Dave had been promoted to Detective Chief Superintendent, and my publishers asked if I had ever thought of creating a detective as a central character.

"So I went straight to Dave and I said: ‘How would you like to be a fictional cop?’."
From that point onwards the pair have, ironically, been as thick as thieves.

Each time Peter starts to plan a new novel he buys a Moleskin notebook and heads up to The Ginger Fox pub near Woodmancote where Dave will be waiting.

Peter said: "He reads along as I work, every hundred pages, and tells me how Roy Grace would really think and act.

"Over the many years we have had this great relationship, and he has introduced me to police officers not just across the UK but all over the world, who I have spent time with.

"And he has also become my closest mate. He was my best man when Lara and I got married in 2015. And he worked closely with John Simm (who plays Roy Grace in the ITV show) and arranged for John to go round every important division of Sussex Police to get an understanding of their inner workings."

The Argus: ITV's GraceITV's Grace

ITV have hired Dave as the police advisor for the show, responsible for making sure all policing details are accurate. 
And the role, Peter says, is of paramount importance.

"I’m a great stickler for getting things right. The public are smart, both readers and viewers, and they can tell immediately if something is right or wrong. I’m determined to try and get the policing side of it as accurate as possible, obviously without being too boring."

Filming has been completed on the second instalment of ITV's Grace, based on Peter's second Roy Grace novel, Looking Good Dead. It is due to air later this year, with the release date currently unconfirmed.