John Nightingale

John Nightingale is the author of The Appearance of Murder – listed as a book of the year for 2015 in The Times and as one of 10 Best Books of 2015 on AskMen UK - and The Direction of Murder, the second in the David Knight series, and also of The Sky Blue Parcel, featuring high-flying civil servant Jane Charles.

Before becoming a full-time novelist, John worked as a civil servant in a number of different roles. He was, among other things, in charge of national alcohol misuse policy (“previous experience not required and may even be a disadvantage”); and an expert on pensions and pensions education, playing a leading role in sorting out the Maxwell pension scandal.

He studied English at Cambridge and lives and writes in London and Suffolk. In 1990 he married Caroline Slocock, who also worked as a civil servant for many years, including as the first woman Private Secretary in No 10 and as a senior civil servant at the Treasury, and the author of People Like Us: Margaret Thatcher and Me. They have two daughters.

His civil service career provided the background to The Sky Blue Parcel, where he worked closely with Ministers, for example on the Department of Work and Pensions’ anti-fraud strategy.

Another source of inspiration for his writing came through no talent of his own but through marriage. He got, for a time, to be the additional man at that banquet at No 10 or that reception at Chequers, where he suddenly found himself in conversation with Dame Vera Lynn, Jimmy Greaves and Clive Lloyd. There was also the opportunity and time to observe events and people which is precious for any novelist, thriller writer or otherwise. On another occasion he sat next to the very charming wife of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury who told him that she had been in a bookshop earlier in the day and picked up a thriller which had the opening line “The wife of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury…”

A sense of the surreal and the difficulty of determining where precisely reality lies is a key element in John’s thrillers, The Appearance of Murder and The Direction of Murder, both featuring David Knight.

Visit www.johnnightingale.co.uk for more information.