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Jean Briggs
Jean taught English and Drama in various schools, from Hong Kong to Lancashire. She enjoyed writing plays, especially spoof murder mysteries: A is for Arsenic, B is for Bludgeon, C is for Cyanide were all set in ridiculously clichéd country houses, featuring sinister butlers and half-mad aristocrats poisoning or bashing their way to inheritances. A Lesson in Murder saw the slaughter of half a staff room by a lunatic former pupil bent on revenge –naturally, that went down very well with the pupils. The highest point of her career as a playwright came with a performance of a reduced Hamlet in the presence of The Queen – not an ideal choice, she thought afterwards – almost the entire court of Denmark slaughtered.
Then Jean retired and moved to a cottage in Cumbria. Her players were gone – and her audience. She missed the teaching and writing. What next? A novel, perhaps? It was 2012, the bicentenary of Charles Dickens. Time to re-read him and to discover his articles on the police in his magazine Household Words. An idea was born – suppose Dickens was involved in a murder case? As far as Jean knew, he wasn’t, but he had portrayed murder and he had created detectives: the private detective Nadgett in Martin Chuzzlewit and Inspector Bucket in Bleak House. Dickens explores the psychology of the murderer; he understands human nature; he constructs a narrative; he has imagination, and he knows the streets of London – surely these would make him a skilful investigator. He admired the police so she invented a partner for him, a professional policeman from Bow Street.
The four books in the series so far are published by Sapere Books and available on Amazon. Number five: At Midnight in Venice comes out in September, 2019.
Writes
Sub-genres
Books by Jean Briggs
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/11142555/waxwork-man-300x482.jpg)
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171111/The-Murder-of-Patience-Brooke-Instagram-Post-300x482.png)
The Murder of Patience Brooke
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171109/death-at-hungerford.jpg)
Death at Hungerford Stairs
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171108/Murder-By-Ghostlight.jpg)
Murder by Ghostlight
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171106/The-Quickening-and-the-Dead.jpg)
The Quickening and The Dead
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171105/At-Midnight-In-Venice.jpg)
At Midnight in Venice
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171104/redemption-murders-1-scaled-1-300x482.jpg)
The Redemption Murders
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/17171102/Murder-by-Magic-cover-300x482.png)
Murder by Magic (Short Story)
![](https://cdn.thecwa.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/17175002/typewriter-801921_1920-1400x396.jpg)
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