Dying Fall
Sophie Rivers has a job she enjoys, a satisfying life and a close circle of friends. Then things go suddenly wrong; one of her students is murdered on college premises, and her best friend George meets a tragic end which everyone believes to be an accident - everyone, that is, except Sophie.
  
  "This is my first published novel, so I'm very fond of it for that reason. It was inspired by the building in which I taught, which was dominated by the sound of the lifts and the wind whistling round ill-fitting windows.
  The other half of the plot came about when Birmingham's Symphony Hall was first opened to the public, still incomplete. As soon as I'd seen it, I phoned Andrew Barnell, Principal Bassoon in the CBSO with two questions: 'Do you mind being called George? Do you mind being dead?' Fortunately for me and Sophie, he was prepared to be both.
  This is where some of the other main characters make their first appearance: Chris Groom and Ian Dale - and Winston Rhodes, who makes a guest appearance in 'Dying to Score'."

Dying On Principle
It looks as if Sophie has fallen on her feet when she changes jobs and moves to George Muntz College.
  However, when a colleague is found dead, she realizes that there is more to the Birmingham college than meets the eye.
  
  "This is set firmly in the era when further education colleges in the UK had just become independent of the local authorities which had always run them. While the majority of college managers did their best for their staff and students, a significant minority rubbed their hands in glee at the opportunities for unsupervised money-making - for themselves! While many colleges needed whistle-blowers, only George Muntz College had Sophie poking her nose in to see what was going wrong.
  There is an interesting development in the relationship between Chris and Sophie, but the really interesting relationship is probably that between Sophie and a very rich old man.
  Part of the book was inspired by another of Birmingham's old buildings. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is housed in a former factory, abandoned intact by its owners. This gave me the idea for an unusual site for George Muntz College..."

Dying To Write
Sophie Rivers is attending a writing course when a fellow student is found dead. Although glamorous Nyree hadn't done a lot to endear herself to Sophie, nevertheless she didn't deserve to meet such a squalid end.
  A course tutor then goes missing and it is clear that one of Sophie's fellow students is responsible...
  
  "Every aspiring writer ought to go on a residential writing course. You mix with your peers and get advice from professionals. Fortunately not all writing courses involve the sort of mayhem that met Chris Groom's disapproving eye.
  Eyre House is based, believe it or not, on Soho House in Birmingham, originally the home of the industrialist Matthew Boulton. When you go to see this beautiful eighteenth century house now, it seems inconceivable that it was once the grubby, run-down building which I transplanted to the Sandwell Valley."

Dying For Millions
Rock musician Andy Rivers has hordes of adoring fans and campaigns for one good cause after another. So why would anyone want him dead?
  It begins harmlessly enough: mild vandalism, funeral flowers left on the bonnet of his car, but suddenly it becomes clear that Andy's persecutor is deadly serious.
  
  "I always had a soft spot for Andy Rivers, who featured in an early, unpublished novel. He's come to Birmingham to give his very last pop concert before giving up the music business and devoting himself full-time to Third World Charities. Of course he meets up with Sophie, putting her life at risk, and not for the first time, either (see Dying To Score).
  While I was researching this I spent one of the coldest nights of the winter on the tarmac at Coventry Airport, having set off all their alarms by leaving my car keys in my pocket."

Dying For Power
A Sophie Rivers mystery, set in a multicultural college of further education, in Birmingham.
  Tension mounts when a spate of fires leads to the death of a young teacher. Next, a safe hostel for women is razed to the ground. Is there any connection with the growing fundamentalist movement?
  
  "I wrote the opening pages on the beach in Crete. While all around me sensible people were simply enjoying the holiday sun, I was busy struggling with issues of racism and industrial relations at Sophie's beloved William Murdock College.
  So much is thrown at her - arson, the death of one colleage, a vicious assault on another - you'd think she'd be relieved to be suspended for gross misconduct.
  Although the crimes are solved, and she is reinstated, she starts to think hard about her future there. Maybe, just maybe, there's a life after college..."

Dying To Score
Sophie Rivers is finally on vacation after a gruelling season of teaching in a deprived inner-city college, and has just started seeing Mike Lowden. When he becomes the prime suspect in a murder of a not-so-popular rival cricketer, Sophie's got too much to lose to remain merely a spectator.
  
  "I really enjoyed writing this book, much of which is set in the Black Country because Chris Groom has had a promotion to Piddock Road Police Station in Smethwick.
  The real-life Superintendent in charge there was kind enough to outline Chris's new responsibilities - no wonder Chris is always so tired and miserable.
  Other parts are set in one of my favourite locations, Edgbaston Cricket Ground, home of Warwickshire Cricket Club. Some books are really enjoyable to research. This was definitely one of them!"

'The Darke Side'
Judith explains why Edgbaston County Cricket Ground made a good murder location. Click the link below to view the QuickTime movie. 

View 'The Darke Side'
 
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Dying By Degrees
Sophie takes time out from teaching to study for a post-graduate degree at the University of the West Midlands.
  
  "Perhaps it's a good job you won't find this institution in any of the higher education handbooks. I got the idea of the scam in this book from a real-life one I once came across - though it was nothing like as nasty as the one here.
  To support herself as a student, Sophie turns her hobby, cooking, into a lucrative business. But maybe she wishes she hadn't."

Dying By The Book
Sophie is still out of full-time teaching. "Once upon a time, as a very new writer, I was helped enormously by being showcased in the long-defunct Birmingham Readers' and Writers' Festival, now replaced by the Birmingham Book Festival. Once or twice I helped behind the scenes - stuffing envelopes, for example. Sophie's gone much further than I. Instead of being involved with the hard-working, decent people responsible for the Readers' and Writers' Festival, she finds herself - as you'd expect - in the middle of a murder.

  Curiously, the key idea came not from the Festival, but from a conversation I had with a Scene of Crime Officer, who outlined a real life locked room mystery he'd once had to deal with. I was so enthralled I set it at the heart of Sophie's enquiry. I have to admit the novel ends in a little wish-fulfilment: look at the last chapter and you'll see what I mean."

Dying in Discord
Dying in Discord is set in two of the Midlands' most important sites, both of which I was shown round by experts. That strange Gothic pile, the Birmingham and Midlands Institute, is cared for by Philip Fisher, who is proud of every inch of it; he and his colleague Andrew Peet spent the best part of a day showing me parts the public never see. The novel includes an episode I sincerely hope the public never see!

  Another day was spent in the company of the distinguished archaeologist, George Demidowicz - UK TV viewers may have seen him on Channel Four's 'Time Team' in Matthew Boulton's Soho Foundry. When this opens as a World Heritage site, as one day it must, this will surely become a place of pilgrimage. The architecture is wonderful, the sense of the past overwhelming - and I've been privileged to set a murder there. To my amazement, George Demidowicz was happy to make an appearance as himself: it was meant to be just a cameo, then he did something quite heroic.

  Thank you, Philip, Andrew and George!

(See Interview with Huw Richards, Times Educational Supplement)

 
Novels featuring Sophie Rivers:
Dying Fall | Dying On Principle | Dying To Write | Dying For Millions | Dying For Power | Dying To Score | Dying By Degrees | Dying By The Book | Dying in Discord

Novels featuring Kate Power:
Power Shift | Hidden Power | Will Power | Power Games | Staying Power | Power On Her Own

Purchase the novels on line (external link) from Amazon.co.uk.

Other pages on this site:
About the author | Sophie Rivers | Kate Power | Readers' Meetings | Search Amazon UK | Birmingham links | Home Page

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