Biography: Paul Charles

My latest book, and the 2nd in the INSPECTOR STARRETT series set in Donegal in Ireland, is entitled Family Life and was published on September 2nd, 2009 by Brandon.

I managed my first group, The BLUES by FIVE, when I was fifteen years old and my business card listed the number of the local telephone box in my native Magherafelt, Northern Ireland.

I moved to London when I was seventeen years old and studied to be a civil engineer, but the music business was my real distraction and I was more interested in writing about the London scene for Irish music papers than surveying, planning and drawing.

My real education began when I took on the multiple role of manager, lyricist, roadie, sound-engineer and agent for the Belfast band Fruupp. We signed to Dawn Records and worked around the UK and Europe for several years in the early seventies. Sheba's Song, with one of several sets of my lyrics from that period (the fine music was from band member John Mason) was sampled and recorded by American Rap artist Talib Kweli with Nora Jones guesting on vocals for Talib's latest Warner Bros album, Ear Drum. The album entered the Billboard USA top 200 at #2 on 2nd September, 2007.

Fruupp eventually spilt up after four albums but by that point I had met Paul Fenn and we became firm friends and, eventually partners in the Asgard Agency where, over the last 30 years, I've been lucky enough to be agent for a wide range of quality music acts including: The Blue Nile, Ray Davies, Paul Brady, Jackson Browne, Christy Moore, Don McLean, Elvis Costello, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Rory Gallagher, Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder, Robert Plant, Planxty, The Undertones, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, The Waterboys and Crosby, Stills & Nash. I've also programmed the acoustic stage at Glastonbury Festival for the last 15 years.

Music has always been a major force in my life and I have a need for the music of The Beatles, Hank Williams, Nick Drake, Otis Reading, Bob Dylan and the artists we've been lucky enough to work with.

But as well as all of that I'm also a committed book reader—and collector—particularly British Detective fiction, and I have always loved dabbling in writing, lyrics, sleeve notes, short stories, etc, so in 1996, inspired by Colin Dexter (the creator of Inspector Morse), I attempted my first Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy Mystery, I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass, which was published the following year. Eight further Christy Kennedy titles followed, including 2008's The Beautiful Sound of Silence; plus a novel concerning the Beatles, called First of the True Believers and the factual The Complete Guide to PLAYING LIVE.

With the latest Inspector Kennedy Mystery, The Beautiful Sound of Silence (2008), I tried something new. I took a real life incident and rewrote the consequences in a 'what if' approach, as in what if one of the dependants hadn't been as naturally talented and as committed to his art as he was. The Beautiful Sound of Silence is a story of what maybe could have happened in such an instance. The idea was two fold; one: to try and show the difference between right and wrong and two: to try and show how creativity can be diverted on to that well-worn darker path.

In 2007 Brandon published The Dust of Death, the first of a new series featuring Inspector Starrett. The second in this series set in Donegal is called Family Life (Brandon, September 2009).

I started work on Family Life the same day I completed work on The Dust of Death. Quite literally I went straight from one scene to the next. I'd completed work on the opening scenes and was happy enough with it but, when I reached around page 20, I realised I needed to go away and get to know properly the fictional Sweeney Family whose history, lives and relationships form the core of this mystery. Even I was shocked at some of the things I discovered.

BOOKLIST

(Click any title to read about the book)

BOOKLIST

Inspector Christy Kennedy novels:

Inspector Starrett novels:

Beatle themed (2002):

Pocket Essentials (2002):

Pocket Essentials (2003):

Factual (2004):