top of page
  • Writer's picturebobsandbooks

Author Q&A: Barry Faulkner

I was thrilled to interview the excellent crime fiction and non fiction writer, Barry Faulkner.



Hi Barry, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. Lets get started!


To kick us off....Tell us about your new releases…..


Barry: The latest DCS Palmer & The Serial Murder Squad, book 15 called UNDERNEATH THE ARCHES came out on 4th March and in the true crime series the first in what looks likely to be 3 books on the UK Murderers from 1900 is just out with the lives, crimes and punishments of 111 UK murderers.



As you know I loved both of those. Both your fictions works and non fiction are absolutely brilliant. Do you have a favourite to write?


Barry: That's very kind of you to say that. No, I am very lucky in that regard that I enjoy all of them. My office walls are covered with post-it notes with ideas for future books and I always carry a small note book around with me. Trouble is I get ideas for new, non related books as well but there's only so many hours in the day!!


I can imagine ! Do you write the fiction and non fiction separately or together?


Barry: I usually have a fiction on the go with a true crime plodding away in the back ground. The reason being that the research for the true crime can take a lot of time, mostly waiting for queries to come back from various Government offices, the NCA, Court archives and local news papers.


The research in your non fiction is incredible, how many sources do you use to get this stories collated?


Barry: Short answer is probably too many! I often get conflicting reports, names or dates and have to try and get the correct information verified. Not always possible. I had one killer who was hung on three different days!! Lucky for me the prison still had the correct dates and was able to send me an email with a copy of the death notice that had been stuck on the prison gate attached. Prison archives are a really good research area.


Amazing. Your fiction has some really unusual storylines in the best way, and is nothing like I've read before. Where do you find your inspiration? What’s your google search history like?


Barry: Well, in the Palmer series I set each serial killer in an area that I have not seen used in crime fiction before, and then, yes, I hammer google and other search engines for as much NEW information on that area as I can find and then start to write. I'm glad you noticed that as it is intentional that I find new areas for each serial killing. Thank you, made my day! :-) On the Ben Nevis series I have him chasing spies and villains overseas in places and areas that I have been to. I even had him and his partner Gold Digger speeding down the wicker sled course on Madeira. Who hasn't been down that when on holiday? Preferably not being chased by Chinese killers. My wife and I have been down that a couple of times with our hearts in our mouths!!! (without Chinese killers on our tail either, I hasten to add!)


Haha. Love it! What can we expect to see next from you?


Barry: Just getting into the next Ben Nevis with him causing havoc in the Adriatic region around Croatia and Montenegro with the second volume of UK Murderers slowly coming together in the background.


Look forward to it. How did you become a writer?


I was an avid reader as a child, mainly the heavy stuff, Maupassant, Zola and the like, don't know why but they seemed to have a grip on reality, and then I found Ian Fleming and devoured the Bond books one after another. My English teacher at secondary school sent a short story I had written up to what was then the London County Council for a competition and somehow I won it. Was I big headed? OH YES!!! All of a sudden I was the greatest living writer! I came back down to earth with a bump when dad sent me out with a shovel and a bucket to collect horse droppings off the road for his roses. Major literary figures didn't collect horse droppings off the street! I got a job as a copy writer in advertising and then got lucky with some stuff I sent in to the BBC and ended up as LE writer and script editor with them and various of the ITV companies around before they all amalgamated. The first Palmer books were originally written as a TV series but I never got round to submitting them and when I retired I re-wrote them as books and put them out through Amazon. I suppose I ought to try for an agent and traditional publisher but there's not enough room on my office walls for the rejection letters!!


I think you are making a great success of what you do. If people want to look for your books, where should they go?


Barry: If any of your followers are interested there's more about me and my path to being an author on my Amazon page Amazon.co.uk: Barry Faulkner: Books, Biography, Blogs, Audiobooks, Kindle


Thanks Barry its been a pleasure. Do check out Barry's amazon page, I can guarantee you will find something brilliant to read.

31 views0 comments
bottom of page