Former BBC and ITV journalist turned author Phil Johnson has a new mystery crime thriller out today: Run to the Blue. Here, the Norwich-based writer explains why he likes to add a touch of romance to his latest books
I’m an author, I write fast moving mystery thrillers as PN Johnson. My first novel, Killer in the Crowd, was published last year, and my new novel – Run to the Blue is out on April 14, both published by Burning Chair Publishing. I’m also Phil Johnson, a former journalist – reporter, producer and presenter at BBC Radio Norfolk, BBC Look East and ITV Anglia. As Phil Johnson I wrote two children’s books – The Little Blue Boat and the Secret of the Broads, and The Little Blue Boat and the Marsh Man’s Gold.
My career in broadcasting was a privilege and a pleasure. I worked with some inspirational, talented and wonderful people, both behind, and in front of the cameras and mics. In fact, my new book is dedicated to them all. It’s about a female TV reporter, and it’s also a homage to every women reporter I’ve ever worked with. TV looks glamorous, but it’s not always easy, and it brings with it enormous stresses and strains, like every job.
As a journalist you get to meet outstanding people, those with everything, and those with nothing. From pop stars and prime ministers to victims of terrible crimes. You get to visit places that others don’t – palaces, parliaments, backstage parties and film sets. But you also come face to face with hideous crimes and terrible tragedy. It was a diverse and exciting life. I was taken on high octane police chases across Essex, went in search of gun runners and greyhound smugglers in Spain, and got to meet pop stars and celebrities.
I’d wanted to write the stories of The Little Blue Boat with the loveable Able Sea Bear Teddy when my children were young, but work and time evaded me, and I didn’t get to write them until much later. They were illustrated by the hugely talented Paul Jackson. My children still enjoyed them as adults though!
The books were well received. I’m proud of them because they helped teach water safety as well as showing children the diversity of wildlife on the beautiful Broads. There is a third story in the series which I will write one day. The Little Blue Boat was produced as a play and performed at local theatres and the Latitude Festival. It was also a runner up in the Norfolk Arts Awards. It’s still available today from local bookshops. Able Sea Bear Teddy sits close to me in my study, he’s always ready to sail the Broads, looking after the birds and animals and righting wrongs.
When I pulled back from full time TV work, I started writing thrillers. I’ve always loved communicating, from the first few years of Radio Norfolk when I did a stint on the Breakfast Show, to making half hour documentaries for Anglia TV, and it seemed a natural progression to communicate through exciting, fast-moving novels.
Run to the Blue is about secrets and lies, killers and spies, and losing and finding love! Described by one critic as “A perfect summer read”. The story? It was supposed to be the best day of her career, the day when she was the hero, the reporter whose story put a deadly gangster behind bars. But as crime boss Ken Lean is sentenced, ace reporter Tess Anderson instead finds herself in the headlines: her husband is exposed as having an affair with a top government minister, and Tess herself faces death threats from the Lean crime family.
With her life collapsing around her, Tess runs to her friend’s villa on the Greek island of Paxos, but soon finds she’s been tracked down by killers and spies. Her only hope of escape is a mysterious, glamorous, and somehow familiar American yachtsman. But who is he? And what is the secret that her husband and his lover are so keen to ensure remains buried? “Run to the Blue” is a fast-moving, action thriller set in the world of television news in London, Suffolk, and in the beautiful Greek islands.
Is there a happy ending? Well, I’m not giving anything away, but I think the world needs happy endings right now. I think we need life affirming endings, with hope and happiness overcoming almost overwhelming odds. But you’ll have to read it to find out if Tess wins through in the end.
“Write about what you know” is what the wonderful, inspirational Malcolm Bradbury once told me. He was a lovely man who left a fantastic creative writing legacy to Norwich. My first novel, Killer in the Crowd, which came out last year and was a Page Turner Award Finalist, was based on a woman teacher trying to find out what had really happened to her missing mother, who’d been an infamous singer back in the 80s’. It was based on the late 70’s and early 80’s music scene which I learned about from working backstage with bands while at Leicester University, plus interviewing musicians and stars as a reporter.
Run to the Blue is set in TV News, which I know a bit about. The crime elements come from my experience working on crime programmes, and much of the action takes place in Greece which I love. My wife and I have enjoyed sailing holidays around the Greek islands for many years and I know the islands really well.
Both my books have some romance in them. They are crime stories with a “will they, won’t they?” love story running alongside. I’m proudly a full member of both The Crime Writers’ and The Romantic Novelists’ Associations, but I doubt I shall ever write a Nordic noir or a pure romance novel. For me, a bit of both offers excitement, tension and jeopardy, but also hope, compassion and maybe… a little love… and we all need that.
Run to the Blue by PN Johnson is published by Burning Chair Publishing. Visit burningchairpublishing.com.
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