Reminder: Peter James at Takapuna tonight

Just a quick reminder that Peter James, the award-winning author of the Brighton-set bestselling Roy Grace series, is appearing at an event at Takapuna Library on Auckland's North Shore tonight.

Peter James will be appearing at Takapuna Library at 6:30pm (drinks at 6pm).

Entry: $5, $2 for Friends of the Library.
Contact Helen Woodhouse on (09) 486 8469 or helenw@shorelibraries.govt.nz

You can read my feature article on Peter James (and Peter Robinson) that was in Saturday's Weekend Herald, here. In an interesting aside, when DEAD LIKE YOU (the latest Roy Grace novel) shot straight to the top of the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its British release earlier this year, it was reportedly the first time in several years that that master of mystery writing marketing, James Patterson, was prevented from going straight to #1 with his latest book.

In DEAD LIKE YOU, the sixth in the award-winning Detective Superintendant Roy Grace series set in James's hometown of Brighton, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room at the Metropole Hotel after a New Years' Eve ball. A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims’ shoes are taken by the offender . . .

Roy Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed ‘Shoe Man’ and was believed to have raped five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing. Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

When more women are assaulted, Grace becomes increasingly certain that they are dealing with the same man. And that by delving back into the past - a time in which we see Grace and his missing wife Sandy still apparently happy together - he may find the key to unlocking the current mystery. Soon Grace and his team will find themselves in a desperate race against the clock to identify and save the life of the new sixth victim . .

You can watch a great little video interview with Peter James about writing DEAD LIKE YOU, below.



Are you a Peter James fan? Have you read any of his Roy Grace books, or his earlier spy thrillers and paranormal work (that saw him called the 'British Stephen King' at one point)? Will you be heading along to Takapuna tonight? Thoughts and comments welcome.