I was born in Liverpool. The great thing about being Liverpudlian is that everybody’s heard of it. Liverpool is the home of the Beatles, the River Mersey and two great football teams (before you ask….red). We are known as Scousers because of a popular lamb stew we were all force-fed as children. The best thing is our collective sense of humour. What do you call a Scouser in a suit? The Accused.

Andrew Harris

Andrew Harris

I was supposed to be a girl called Jennifer. After having my two older brothers, my mum was convinced I would be a girl. I would have been the biggest Jenny of all time. I loved my mum but wished she hadn’t bought me all those frocks. Very embarrassing at school.

I am the classic Gemini.  Technically I’m a cusp born Gemini Taurean but my personality leans towards the Heavenly Twins. I feel very proud of having written two serious crime fiction novels. Why is there no cure for cancer? Well you’ll have to read The C Clef and find out.  But I can’t – and don’t want to - restrain my mercurial, playful self which offers a limitless imagination and truly unique ideas.

I am an Eternal Optimist. People fascinate me and always have done – what makes us tick, what makes us happy, what makes us cry. I believe in the Human Spirit and our capacity to do anything we set our minds to. In my books Good will always triumph over Evil. I want to excite, to inspire and to stimulate ideas on how we can make a better world.

I believe in ghosts. Any doubt I had was dispelled after staying in a haunted house in Scotland. My wife is probably a white witch and communicated with the ghost. We have lost our belief in magic, in fairies and in a spiritual world. This denies us the joy of connecting with people from an earlier, more enlightened time. We need to reconnect with our sixth sense.

I am grateful. In a world which is becoming increasingly selfish and greedy, I am enormously grateful for the life I’ve been able to lead with the people I treasure the most. As The Beatles said, money can’t buy me love. I’ve feel very fortunate to have been loved and to share love. My wish is to live in a world where happiness is valued more than wealth. Happy people sing and whistle to themselves – who do you know who whistles these days?

I love books I can climb into and get lost in the characters and storyline. My role model is John le Carre. If I could create a book anything like as good as one of his I’d be delighted. I’m not interested in ho-hum fiction; in writing books to fill time. I hate the word content. My intention is to write crime fiction thrillers that are Provocative – Informative – Entertaining. With me you’ll get two books for the price of one. Perhaps the more interesting book is written between the lines.

When I’m writing the book, I’m also directing the film. Crime fiction is my favourite genre but I read all kinds of books. I also watch all kinds of films. I find when I’m writing that it feels like I’m moving a camera around the scene to get the best shot. Thankfully my characters all seem to be great actors and don’t need too much direction.   

There are Pantsers and Plotters. I’m a Plotter. Writers seem to fall under one of these two headings. The people who make it up as they go along are called Pantsers – they live by the seat of their pants. I’m a Plotter which means the story is already very clear in my head before the first word is written. And I know how it ends, unlike Pantsers who have a tendency to lose their way.

I want to change the world through crime fiction. People power changes the world. I strongly believe that world leaders eventually have to acquiesce to people power. Politicians built the Berlin Wall; people pulled it down. The world is changed Bottom-Up not Top-Down. Through books that are well researched and written in an engaging, fast-paced style, I hope to stimulate debate on such important issues as finding a cure for cancer: eradicating world poverty: feeding 9 billion people without destroying our precious planet.