Sean Haldane

Dr Seán Haldane attended Oxford University (UK) and Saybrook University (USA). In his historical and contemporary crime novels he draws on his experience as a neuropsychologist in health services and the criminal justice system, first in Canada (Prince Edward Island and British Columbia) then in the UK from 1990 to 2020. From 2012 to 2020 he was in private practice based in London as an expert witness, working about 2/3 with police and crown prosecution services (via the National Crime Agency), and 1/3 with defence lawyers.

In police work, he was instructed by and worked with Senior Investigating Officers in cases ranging from murder to ‘Rape and Serious Sexual Offences’ (RASSO), abuse, assaults, and fraud. His assessments were done in police stations, hospitals, law offices, and prisons. His reports assisted the criminal justice system in determining whether the accused had suffered brain damage which affected the capacity to stand trial (‘fitness to plead’) and the question of mens rea (the ‘guilty mind’): whether the person knew what he or she was doing while committing a crime.

Although Seán Haldane’s novels are about fictional events, his close knowledge of crime and of the questions it poses to police and the criminal justice system enables him to stay close to the psychological and practical reality of criminal investigation.

Seán Haldane lives in London, UK and in New Brunswick, Canada. He is a UK, Irish, and Canadian citizen.

Other Awards

Crime Writers of Canada, 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel: ‘The Devil’s Making’. The first in the Chad Hobbes Historical Crime Novel Series.