What can I tell you about my lead character?
But with each book, his own unique character has developed, putting more and more distance between us. We still share the same sense of humour and interests in protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare and nature, but he’s now very much his own character.
‘Kent Fisher is a wonderful creation and unique in crime literature … Fun. Enjoyable. Entertaining and begging to be adapted for TV!’
Booksaremycwtches, 23rd October 2017.
Kent owns and runs an animal sanctuary, where he lives with his West Highland white terrier, Columbo – a favourite character of many a reader. He’s based on my own Westie, Harvey, who sadly passed away on 2oth September 2021.
But he lives on the Kent Fisher murder mysteries!
Kent lives and works in and around the South Downs. It’s a beautiful part of the country with the iconic Seven Sisters on the coast and many interesting villages inland. Like Morse and Oxford, the setting has become another character in the novels.
Kent’s natural fear of commitment stems from the belief that there may be someone better around the corner. It leads to short term relationships, offering plenty of scope for new characters to come and go. But Gemma, who’s the love of his life if he’d only open his eyes, remains constant, helping him solve murders, saving his life and putting herself at risk every time she teams up with him.
It’s a terrific relationship that ebbs and flows through the series, often threatening a resolution. It keeps readers guessing and adds colour and sexual tension to the backstory as readers root for the lovers they want to see settle with Kent.
He also has a knack of getting into danger. Once on the trail, he’s impossible to shrug off, His sense of justice and fair play, which he inherits from me, won’t let him sit back. His early years were blighted by an alcoholic mother who left her husband and took Kent 300 miles up country, where he struggles to fit in at school, again echoing many of my experiences.