Meet the Author: Tim Sullivan

Image © Ivan Weiss

Screenwriter and director Tim Sullivan cemented his passion for crime fiction when he directed Jeremy Brett’s iconic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in ITV’s The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. His crime series features the socially awkward but tenacious DS George Cross and has topped the book charts.

The DS Cross series includes The Patient, The Politician, and The Monk. His latest DS Cross novel is The Teacher and was published by Head of Zeus on 18 January. You can find Tim's other books on our catalogue.

Tim is one of the featured authors at this year's Skulduggery in Stowmarket crime fiction festival on Saturday 27 April. Individual tickets and all-day tickets are available to book online.

Who were your influences as you were growing up?

In terms of crime writing, Raymond Chandler. In other literature, Henry James, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and Evelyn Waugh.

You started your writing life with credits like The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Shrek, Flushed Away and Letter to Juliet. What was it like working on those films and series?

I didn’t actually write the Sherlocks but directed them. The screenplays were all very different experiences. For example Flushed Away was in production so I was actually working in the studios in LA on daily deadlines. Each scene would then be dissected by the group, so as a writer you had to put your ego away. My best experience was probably writing the movie Jack and Sarah because I directed that as well and so had control all the way through.

Did you always have it at the back of your mind to write a thriller?

I think so, because a lot of my work in movies was quite light and comedic so a thriller made a welcome change. As I keep saying after co-writing and co-producing My Little Pony, a New Generation, there was only one direction for me to go in – crime fiction.

Your detective DS George Cross is a long way from the traditional detective stereotype. He is socially awkward and direct in his approach. Did you create the detective first and find a situation for him or did you start from the crime?

I started with the character first. I think character is the most important factor for me in my writing. The crimes came later. Autism, particularly in the workplace, has always fascinated me. It can so easily be misinterpreted and presents a challenge for both the neurodivergent person and the neurotypical. I wanted to create a character who was really good at his job, partly because he was able to look at the crimes in a completely different way to others. He’s unremittingly logical and without any preconceptions.

What part does research play in your books? Do you allow yourself a certain amount of time before you start writing or is it different with each plot?

I do a lot of research. I’ve started work on book 7 of the George Cross series, It’s called The Bookseller and so currently I’m steeped in research of the fascinating world of second hand, rare and antiquarian books. I tend to choose the world I want to examine which often dictates who my victim is. But I never know who the killer is when I start a book.

Can you tell us a little about your new book The Teacher?

It’s about the murder of an old man in a small village outside Bristol. He seems to be an unlikely victim. There has been no break in, but the villagers have noticed a change in his behaviour in the last few weeks. People wonder whether there was someone else in the house with him. A former headmaster with a reputation for cruelty decades before, has his past come back to haunt and in the end kill him?

What's next for you?

The next DS George Cross book, The Bookseller.

You are appearing at the Skulduggery in Stowmarket festival on Saturday 27 April. Have you visited Suffolk much before?

Yes, a late friend of mine had a house near Orford which we visited a few times.

Aside from your own work what have you read recently that you would recommend to Suffolk readers?

S.A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

I once played squash with the playwright Alan Bennett.