Murder on the Broads? Popular Norfolk writer releases new book

Hot air ballons, murder and the Broads? Norfolk author Chris Crowther's latest ‘Backwaters' is out now
 

Chris Crowther has just published his latest book, ‘Backwaters'. Distributed by Bittern Books, it is set around and on the Norfolk Broads and is the eighth in a series of murder mysteries featuring Jack Fellows, an ex-detective superintendent who now spends his time as a navigation ranger on the Norfolk waterways. Chris describes these books as a kind of "Midsomer Murders afloat".
 

In Backwaters, Jack Fellows takes a hot air balloon flight across the Broads and when he spots an abandoned old boat deep inside a reedbed, he feels he has to investigate. After locating it from the water, he finds a grisly scene and so the story unfolds.

Chris is himself an interesting character, having worked as a commercial helicopter pilot, and like his hero Jack Fellows, retired to the Broads some twenty years ago.  After a stint driving one of the Broads tour boats, Chris's sole occupation now is writing - when he's not sailing or rowing on the rivers around his home.

"We built our house by the river and this is where I do all my writing," says Chris Crowther. The Hoveton property backs directly on to the broads, and passing tourist boats can regularly be seen from its garden.

For Chris, the broads are "a magical place", but their character, he feels, changes drastically between seasons.

"A lot of people only know the broads in the summer when they're a wonderful place to relax and enjoy boating, but in the winter they become quite a wild, desolate area. The kind of place where strange things can happen, and strange things do happen."

Wild, remote places and their capacity for something insidious are fashionable settings for many murder mysteries.Popular TV shows like Scottish crime drama 'Shetland' was recently commissioned for a ninth and tenth season, filmed predominantly on location on the eponymous islands.Now it just so happens Norfolk's famous national park is, perhaps surprisingly, also developing quite a following of its own for darker tales of "wrongdoings".

"The Norfolk Broads seem to be a really popular place to set murder mysteries at the moment and as we're based right on the edge of them, we're ideally placed to promote such stories," says Steve Haines, founder and owner of Bittern Books, a distributor specialising in East Anglian books and maps. "We've got the local knowledge of where to place these books so they get the widest possible readership.

"Chris Crowther's books fit nicely into our catalogue of East Anglian-based fiction and non-fiction."

From a young age Chris was fascinated by reading, particularly inspired by the character of Biggles and his creator and author, Captain W.E. Johns. Johns had been a pilot in the First World War before becoming a successful writer.

"I thought if you could have adventures flying and then write stories about them afterwards, that would be a pretty good way to live."

During Chris' time as a helicopter pilot working in West Africa he began writing short stories, many of which were published in magazines at the time. As a pilot he has worked in various spots around the globe, but it was always his intention to return to Norfolk. Firmly landed now in Broadland, writing is his main focus.

A short video of Chris talking about his writing, his new book and love of the Broads can be seen herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2xDrcFAGk.

Chris will be signing copies of his new book Backwaters at Roys of Wroxham on Friday 26 July between 10am and 2pm.

Chris Crowther is an author based in Hoveton, Norfolk. He predominantly writes murder mysteries set on the Norfolk Broads, where he also resides. Find out more athttps://www.chriscrowther.co.uk/

Bittern Books specialises in East Anglian books and maps, both as a wholesale business, distributing to retail outlets throughout East Anglia, and also selling direct through its website. For further details, call Bittern Books on01603 739635, visithttps://bitternbooks.co.ukor emailsteve@bitternbooks.co.uk.

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