Peter James 2008 on Dead Man's Footsteps

On July 1st 2008 the hottest day of the year so far, David and I drove down to the Sussex Downs to interview crime writer Peter James. To get there we had to follow the puzzle of instructions which had been written before the level crossing had been taken out and the A27 had been turned into cone country!! In other words no right turn! When we did manage to make a turn in the right direction, we were greeted with several police vans! Were they for us - we hoped not, and carried on our way to Peter's house set in beautiful countryside full of sheep making their presence known.

I hadn't seen Peter since 1992 when I'd interviewed him on his book 'Prophecy', and fifteen years on he looked as young as ever! Before we did the interview David and I met his three dogs, alsatian Phoebe, labrador/collie Oscar and poodle/shitzu Coco who is very young and disappeared very quickly!

Halfway through our chat Oscar returned to take part, climbing all over me and trying to wash my face! Suffice to say I collapsed into the giggles but Peter carried on manfully not missing a beat. But having got Oscar under control Phoebe decided to join in the fray with a lot of very heavy breathing - she's still on the interview!

Peter is a wonderful raconter and tells wonderful anecdotes of his experiences with the Sussex police with all the colourful language you'd expect complete with accents. At the end of his interview he gives a very funny anecdote of a stake out with the police that does have swearing in it.

We couldn't have wished for a better day out and look forward to the next time we can all meet again!