James R Vance

Author James R Vance:

Originally from England, I now live in rural south west France. My first novels, 'Animal Instinct', 'Killer Butterfly' and 'The Courier' were published between 2008 and 2010. They formed a trilogy depicting the careers of two detectives. My knowledge of Cheshire and Greater Manchester is apparent in both 'Animal Instinct' and 'Killer Butterfly'. The final novel of the trilogy,'The Courier', uses my experience of working in France and London as an inspiration for the storyline. My fourth novel 'Eight', published in 2011,is a crime fiction novel set mostly in France, a sequel to the trilogy featuring one of the detectives and a former suspect. My knowledge of both countries enabled me to provide a backdrop for the plot. During this same period, I also wrote and published a children's short story, 'Goose'.

Having discovered that I live in an area swamped by a rich tapestry of war-time memories, I have since dedicated my time to unearthing stories of resistance activities in this region before the extraordinary tales disappear along with the ageing survivors of that period. My novel, 'Les Ruines', was my first foray into the genre of historical fiction. After researching local sites and listening to personal recollections of French Resistance exploits during WWII, I produced a mysterious tale of tragic events involving betrayal, retribution and chaos during the fragmented liberation of France. The novel was exhibited at the London Book Fair 2012 and a version of the novel in French will be available towards the end of 2015.

In April 2013, I published my next historical fiction project, 'Risk', about agents of the Special Operations Executive who organised evaders' escape lines from occupied France during the Second World War. Combining romance and tragedy, the novel will have subtle links to 'Les Ruines'. To learn more about these wartime exploits, I became a member of E.L.M.S. the Escape Lines Memorial Society, based in the U.K.

My subsequent published book is entitled 'Something Old, Something New', another novel of the historical fiction genre that examines some of the enduring nightmares, consequences from the Nazi occupation of France. It was published in February 2014 to complete the trilogy.

My last project, 'Without Yesterday: Mona's War' tells the story of two young women from vastly different backgrounds whose lives collide during WWII with dramatic consequences. It was published in Octiber 2015.

Currently, I am working on another historical fiction novel, tentatively entitled, 'The Housekeeper'.

I am also a contributor to a locally produced English newspaper, The Bugle, with a distribution across a major part of the Limousin. As a published author, I am involved with a local Writers' Group that meets monthly to discuss our individual projects and support each other in developing writing skills. In 2015, the group worked on a project to produce an anthology of short stories, contributed by its members. The book, entitled, 'French Briefs' was published in November 2015.

In August 2015, I participated by running a workshop in the Charroux Literary Festival in the Vienne department of France.