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About Tom Bryson

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I was born and grew up in Northern Ireland, in the historic city of Derry – Londonderry aptly coined ‘Stroke City’. ‘So – where do you come from, Tom?’ I hear you ask.

I now live in the West Midlands of England in the attractive village of Kinver with my wife Jane – kids all flown the nest – and write novels. (In a former life I was a head of HR.) I like drama, travel, sport (Wolves fan!), and I’m a bit of a current affairs junkie.

My indie published novels include Birmingham cop Matt Proctor crime thriller series ‘TOO SMART TO DIE‘, ‘IN IT FOR THE MONEY’, ‘NO WAY OUT’ and stand-alone thrillers ‘SARCOPHAGUS‘, ‘THE ZEPPELIN OF KINVER EDGE’, BLOOD RED RABBIT’, PROXY KILLER.

My latest novel, 'LOVING JEANIE’ is a 'coming of age' story.

In the past, my short stories have been published in anthologies with some radio broadcasts and one-act plays professionally directed and performed in West Midlands theatre/arts venues.

I have recently written a screenplay made into a short film titled 'The Gun hanging on the Wall' by film-make Howard Smith and available on Vimeo - click link here to view.

Novel writing and developing an e-book/print book publishing venture is proving quite a challenge. Only myself to blame for that though - but I just love it!

My books written so far are:

DCI MATT PROCTOR CRIME SERIES

My published novels are cop DCI Matt Proctor crime series 'TOO SMART TO DIE' (about 'cyber-world' killers who cross the line) and 'IN IT FOR THE MONEY' (where Proctor's murder investigations take him into the deadly world of sport's match and spot-fixing gambling syndicates). The latest in the cop series is 'NO WAY OUT' in which Proctor is in peril hunting a secretive cult in the heart of Birmingham - in modern day 'Peaky Blinders' country.

STAND-ALONE THRILLERS

'SARCOPHAGUS' is a political thriller set in Ukraine and England. I have also published a photo illustrated WW1 novella 'THE ZEPPELIN OF KINVER EDGE'. 'PROXY KILLER' is a suspense thriller set in the medical world and 'LOVING JEANIE' is a 'coming of age novel set in Ireland. A second Ireland setting novel is 'BLOOD RED RABBIT', A 'post Troubles' story' of trauma and relationships - not terrorism!

Springtown Camp. A part of Derry’s history.

The setting for my 'coming-of-age' novel 'LOVING JEANIE' and where I grew up.

This is something of a departure for me. I normally write cop Matt Proctor crime series novels or stand-alone thrillers – for this latest I’m mining my childhood.

That’s scary.

My novel is not autobiographical – it’s fiction. Yet it taps into memories and settings where I grew up – some of the fictionalised scenes are loosely based on personal experience. The novel is written from the viewpoint of 12 year old Dan Kerrigan, in 1960s Derry, Northern Ireland. Dan lives in Springtown camp on the city’s edge.

This next bit about the novel’s setting is not fiction, it’s true.

'The Camp' was a former WW2 US naval base comprising mainly corrugated tin Nissen huts, used to ease a post war housing crisis. The US Navy had a major presence in Derry and escorted convoys, attacked and later scuttled U-Boats as they fought in the Allied war effort. After the Americans vacated the camp in 1946, almost immediately hundreds of families, totalling thousands of people moved en masse to the Camp and began living in the tin huts as illegal squatters. The authorities didn’t like that. However, Derry Corporation took over the huts and used them to ease a post-war housing crisis The huts went into decline and became intolerable living habitations. The camp was finally demolished in 1967

My novel starts with a prologue – namely the mass squat.

Springtown camp (sidebar)) was where I grew up and is the main setting for Dan’s story. A fascinating place with a unique story – check it out here www.springtowncamp.com/

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