Oliver Crane

Oliver Crane is the author of The Nicholas Trilogy and the D.S. John Anderson Crime Series.

He began writing in 2017 with A Boy in a Storm. What started as a foray into writing turned into five years of almost daily effort, and eventually a change in direction: six novels later, it has become a way of exploring the questions that trouble him, the lives that interest him, and the things that matter.

Set across Edinburgh, the Highlands of Scotland and France, his novels are character-led stories shaped by justice, belonging, courage, resilience and hope.

Oliver spent much of his working life in education, where he came to believe that the best teaching passes on more than knowledge. It carries encouragement, curiosity and something of the person behind it. He sees stories in a similar way: they should do more than entertain. They should take us somewhere new, return us to the familiar in a different light, and perhaps leave us with something we did not have before.

His fiction draws heavily on real life: the people he has met, the outdoors, places that have stayed with him, his work, community work, and the experiences and interests that have shaped how he sees the world. Some influences are large and obvious. Others are little more than whispers, heard, remembered and shared.

Oliver lives in Scotland with his French wife, whose influence often weaves a French thread through his work.