Mr Paul Toolan

Paul Toolan was born in Leeds quite a long time ago and is now a Southern softie enjoying the green landscape of Somerset. After a successful career in Colleges and Universities, he wrote book/lyrics for stage musicals before ‘turning to crime’.

His mystery novels, which have been described as “delicious tales of murder, full of grit and wit”, feature Inspector ‘Zig’ Batten, an urban Northerner displaced to the West Country where, to his horror, he discovers they still have crime. Worse, despite a fear of flying, Zig must sometimes forsake cider-land to confront villains in foreign countries such as Spain and Greece.

Like Zig, Paul enjoys walking, fishing, gardens and the occasional whisky. Unlike him, he appreciates sport and mushrooms, and loves travelling to sunnier climes. His idea of bliss is a slow lunch at a beachside taverna after tapping a keyboard to the ebb and flow of the Mediterranean sea.

His rural noir crime mysteries are character-based, with intricate plots and slices of humour. Though set amid the apple-orchards of Somerset, escapades overseas bring added variety. The series so far:

A Killing Tree

A January Killing

An Easter Killing

The Killing of Queen Mab

A Secret Killing

A Ring O'Bells Killing

A Cider-Country Killing

All can be read in series or standalone.

Paul is also a recipient of the Wells Literary Festival’s Wyvern Short Story Prize. His first collection of "beautifully poignant and funny" short stories, 'A View from Memory Hill', features characters in their golden years, exploring the half-shaded landscape of memory.