Murder in the most unexpected places
Intricate plots, dry wit, and richly drawn characters
I'm Robert Crouch, author of contemporary murder mysteries set against the beautiful backdrop of the South Downs.
For forty years, I worked as an environmental health officer because I wanted to make a difference. My work gave me an unusual insight into the people, businesses and conflicts hidden beneath the surface of country life.
Investigating fatal workplace accidents, dealing with legal contraventions and helping resolve conflicts brought me into contact with people when things had gone badly wrong.
I learned how ordinary people can find themselves caught up in complicated situations. And how easily those situations can spiral out of control.
“The thing I love about these stories is that there’s no dry police procedure. I know some people love it, but Fisher is an ordinary person, like us. It puts the reader at the heart of the mystery.” Ignite.
A lifelong passion for the underdog
An outsider at school, books and a fertile imagination became my escape.
I was always writing stories in which the underdog changed lives and worlds. (Discover more.)
Growing older and wiser only increased my fascination with people who find the courage to make a difference.
Ordinary people like my sleuths, drawn into investigations by curiosity and a desire to uncover the truth.
These ideas became central to my fiction.
An ordinary person solving murder
I wanted to take this idea of an everyday person making a difference and plant it firmly in the South Downs. It’s a place of beautiful landscapes, picturesque villages and seemingly peaceful communities. (Discover more.)
But beneath those idyllic surfaces lie gossip, rumour, old grudges and double lives. All the ingredients a murder mystery needs.
Both my Downland Murder Mysteries and my latest novel, The Mother He Never Knew, explore this contrast. Murders are not investigated by police detectives, but ordinary people who become caught up in something far more dangerous than they expected.
The novels are contemporary, but they pay homage to the classic whodunit. There are intricate plots, unexpected twists, humour and richly drawn characters, with the rural setting playing an important part in the story.
The books may remind readers of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple — without the knitting — as well as the rural mysteries of Elly Griffiths.
“Robert Crouch brings these characters and the story to life with humour and warmth, frustrations and heart in your mouth moments.” Susan Hampson.
Hear more about the books
I've talked about my writing and the Downland Murder Mysteries in these interviews with Caroline Manston of the UK Crime Book Club.
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