Robservations

life through a crime writer’s eyes

Meet Harvey, my West Highland white terrier. He’s the inspiration for Columbo in the Kent Fisher mysteries and often watches me writing and pondering life’s mysteries.

He hopes you’ll enjoy the blog posts and want to comment and share them with friends and family.

And if you have any treats in your pocket, he’ll happily share those too.

Let’s talk about listening

There’s an adage that says you have two ears and one mouth – use them in those proportions. Sound advice, you might say, but us writers have our pens and ...
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How I rewrote my future.

Did I really write that? Well, no one else did. It’s your name and title on the front cover. I could blame Harvey, my adorable West Highland white terrier, who ...
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Running Commentary

I learnt to run as a child, mainly to escape from the kids who didn’t like my stories and jokes. In time, this led to my selection for the school’s ...
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The next murder mystery novel is only an idea away

Ideas are everywhere. Sometimes it feels like you can pluck them from the ether. And you can lose them just as quickly if you’re not careful. Many of my ideas ...
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The hole after the whole

Maybe I should have been a copywriter. After all, I love words and I love playing with words. No, I’m not in search of an alternative career. It’s another of ...
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Dogged determination to write crime fiction

Last night, with forecasts of heavy drifts of snow, and ice all over the roads and pavements, I was tempted to go on the Internet to see if I could ...
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Entertaining crime fiction

There’s enough misery in the world without me adding to it. That’s why I like to escape into a fictional world. If I want gritty realism and the worst humanity ...
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Would you turn back to change your life?

If you could go back in your life and change one decision you made, which would it be? We’re not talking about buying the wrong car here. We’re talking decisions ...
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How deception made me a writer

In my childhood I improvised to survive. At times my life was as fictitious as the stories I read. Pretence was sometimes the only reality. That’s what made me a ...
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Getting going by going public

Are you one of those people who like talking about your feelings and achievements? Me neither. If you’re an author, you want people to look at and buy your books ...
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New Year Realisation

28th December 2018. It never ceases to impress me how the movement of a single digit can create such a surge of optimism to tackle one of life’s most difficult ...
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My favourite crime novels of 2018

21st December 2018 It may be the shortest day of the year, but here at Crouch Corner, there's a long list of crime novels to wade through if I'm to ...
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Why crime novels grip me, or often don’t

9th December 2018 Like every other reader on the planet I love a good story. I want to be taken on an exciting journey to meet new people, see new ...
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Life’s full of mystery stories

3rd December 2018 Fact can often be stranger than fiction. Here at Crouch Corner, they often blur during the writing week. It's not the result of alcohol or any other ...
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Traumatic times in crime fiction

25th November 2018 Like a pop star on his third final tour, Robservations is back. Holidays, and the disruption caused by works at Crouch Corner knocked me out of my ...
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