Stuart Pawson Books In Order

Publication Order of Charlie Priest Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Stuart Pawson is a well known British novelist famous for writing his novels based on the mystery genre. He is particularly famous for doing the characterization of the main protagonist of the Charlie Priest series, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest. Stuart used to work as an electrical engineer in a coal mine before becoming an author. His stint as a part time officer for probation service allowed him to gain knowledge about the criminal justice system. This helped him to set the criminal plots of his novels. He began his writing career with the first novel of the Charlie Priest series, which was published in the year 1995 and since then, he has written a total of 13 books in the series up to the year 2010. The success of his novels allowed Stuart to become a member of the Murder Squad and the Crime Writer’s Association. Stuart belongs to the category of Mystery & Thriller writers, and lives happily in Fairburn, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, along with his wife Doreen. He is often seen walking around the moors of the city and thinking of the plots of his novels. After completing his studies, Stuart worked as an electrical engineer in a coal mine for a few years. During that time he also worked as a part time, probation officer for almost 5 years. This allowed him to have a closer look of the victims and the offenders and he learned a great deal about the criminal justice system. Stuart began to write his first thriller and mystery book around that time, having only little knowledge about the proceedings of the system. Stuart Pawson maintains a strong affinity towards the American West because of which he believes that he must have some cowboy genes in his body. He first visited the United States of America to work for at the Wyoming coal mine for about a month and since then he has visited America on a number of holiday vacations. Apart from writing novels, Stuart was also interested in song writing, although he did not have any knowledge about the tones. However, Stuart managed to write two theme songs and enjoyed very much while writing them. When not busy in writing novels, he often likes to give motivating speeches to various library groups. He enjoys the sessions very much whenever he gets a chance to do such tasks. The character description of D.I. Charlie Priest as is given by Stuart Pawson is as follows:

D.I. CHARLIE PRIEST

Charlie Priest is a Roman Catholic and a detective inspector by profession in the fictional town of Heckley. Considering the fact that he cannot afford the condensed milk from the supermarket on account of his limited salary, Charlie likes to eat his peanut butter sandwiches and banana with honey. The town of Heckley in which Charlie works as the head of the CID, used to be situated in the Heavy Woolen District of Yorkshire once, near Halifax and Huddersfield. One fact about the town of Heckley is known to all that it is the capital city of a serial killer in Great Britain. Most of the nation’s public executioners have come from this place since the past 100 years. Charlie likes to do the investigations, according to the rules of the book, however, sometimes he tends to bend some rules in the heat of the chase. He always advises the prisoners not to bribe him by quoting that they should never start a sentence with a proposition. Charlie seems to be quite young at heart, even though he is in his seventies. He likes to attend rock concerts, football matches and opera as much as he likes to be at home. He prefers to spend some time in the moors with the winds flowing through his hairs. The character of Charlie Priest is considered as a winner and an intelligent man, who uses his common sense to fight villains in the hard world of Heckley. He is humorous in nature and shows great determination in solving the cases that he is asked to deal with. He shows compassion for the victims and does not have much belief in humanity. When he was appointed as an inspector, he was the youngest of all and went on to be the longest serving inspector. Charlie holds a degree in Art. He does not believe in the idea of getting a promotion by making his senior official happy and likes to work in his own style. The fact that he produces results by taking risks is the only reason that his senior officials tolerate his bohemian behavior and indiscipline. Charlie is depicted as a divorcee in the series, although he manages to have a series of relationships with a number of girlfriends. He likes to work for long hours and cooks his own meal. Charlie also likes to spend his resting time in doing some painting or listening to some classical music like his favorite Dylan CDs.

The first novel of the Charlie Priest series was published in the 1995 by the Allison & Busby publishing house under the title ‘The Picasso Scam’. The plot of the novel is set in Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The opening sequence of the novel introduces Detective Inspector Charlie Priest as an officer in the mythical town of Heckley, who likes to follow the unorthodox ways to deal with the criminal cases. His adamant attitude and indiscipline towards his senior officers have caused him to remain an inspector all through his life. However, he is known to produce results by taking unusual risks. When not chasing criminals, he likes to share humor with the his young team of constables at the station. Normally, the town Heckley is filled with everyday crimes such as shoplifting and sheep stealing. However, there are bigger criminals too, and on one occasion, Charlie comes across a respected businessman who is suspected to be involved in extortion, GBH and international art fraud. He strives hard to find the link about the heroin that has spread in the city and has affected the youth of the city.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 1996 by the Allison & Busby publishing house. It was titled ‘The Mushroom Man’ and was set in the same place as the first novel, Yorkshire. In the opening plot of the novel, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is shown to be involved in a case related to children although he hated it very much. The first case of a missing child comes up when the 8 year old daughter Georgina of a local businessman named Miles Dewhurst disappears. Charlie begins to suspect Dewhurst to be involved in the disappearance of his daughter. However, dead bodies begin to pile up as three clergymen are murdered one after the other. The body of the most recent victim was found with a picture of Destroying Angel mushroom. Charlie races against time to search Georgina and comes across a clue that could lead him to the mushroom man. He begins to suspect the bishop’s widow Annabelle to be involved in the disappearance of Georgina. However, the situation keeps on taking dramatic turns as Charlie begins to realize that he has been stuck deeply in one of the difficult cases of his life.

3 Responses to “Stuart Pawson”

1. MARY WILLIAMS: 3 years ago

   Loved these books! Will there be any more Charlie Priest novels – hope so!!

   Reply
   • Russell H Foggitt: 3 years ago

     I love His books too Mary. But there won’t be any more books as Stuart died on Feb 25th 2016.

     Reply
     • Marguerite: 2 years ago

       What a shame he was a brilliant writer

       Reply