Frances Fyfield (born 18 November 1948) is the pseudonym of Frances Hegarty, an English lawyer and crime-writer.

Biography

Born and brought up in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

, Hegarty was mostly educated in

convent school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

s before reading English at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

. After graduating, she took a course in criminal law. She worked initially for the Metropolitan Police and later the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal ad ...

. She claims "After a long diet of criminal law, including dangerous dogs, rape, mayhem and much, much murder, the indigestion of pity and fury provoked me to write. I wanted to write romance, but the domestically macabre always got in the way."SkyARTS website
retrieved 5 May 2009 She has won several awards, including the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

Duncan Lawrie Dagger for ''Blood From Stone'' in 2008 and the Silver Dagger for ''Deep Sleep''. In addition, her novel, ''Safer than Houses'' was nominated for the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in 2006. She also writes psychological thrillers under the name of Frances Hegarty, among them, ''The Playroom'', ''Half Light'' and ''Let's Dance'', which was published in 1995. Her novels have been translated into 14 languages. Several have been adapted for television. Fyfield's Helen West series has twice been adapted for television.

Juliet Stevenson Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadi ...

played Helen West in ''Trial by Fire'' (1999) and

Amanda Burton Irene Amanda Burton is a Northern Irish actress. Her notable credits include Heather Haversham in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1986), Beth Glover in the ITV drama series '' Peak Practice'' (1993–1995), Sam Ryan in the B ...

later took on the role in a successful British television series in 2002. Fyfield hosted the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

programme Tales from the Stave until 2018. The programme looked at important music works using original scores and libretto.

Bibliography

Helen West novels * ''A Question of Guilt'' (1988) – nominated for an Edgar Award * ''Trial by Fire'' (1990) S Title: ''Not That Kind of Place''– Rumpole Award * ''Deep Sleep'' (1991) – Silver Dagger Award * ''Shadow Play'' (1993) -

Grand Prix de Littérature Policière The Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (or the Police Literature Grand Prize) is a French literary prize founded in 1948 by author and literary critic Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe. It is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in ...

* ''A Clear Conscience'' (1994) * ''Without Consent'' (1996) Sarah Fortune novels * ''Shadows on the Mirror'' (1989) * ''Perfectly Pure and Good'' (1994) * ''Staring at the Light'' (1999) * ''Looking Down'' (2004) * ''Safer Than Houses'' (2005) * ''Cold to the Touch'' (2009,

Sphere A sphere () is a Geometry, geometrical object that is a solid geometry, three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

) Diana Porteous novels * ''Gold Digger (2012)'' * ''Casting the First Stone (2013)'' * ''Painted Smile (2015)'' * ''Welcome The Stranger'' (2017) Other novels * ''Blind Date'' (1998) * ''Undercurrents'' (2000) * ''The Nature of the Beast'' (2001) * ''Seeking Sanctuary'' (2003) * ''The Art of Drowning'' (2006) * ''Blood From Stone'' (2008,

) – Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award Novels as Frances Hegarty * ''The Playroom'' (1991) * ''Half Light'' (1992) * ''Let's Dance'' (1995)

Filmography

*''

Helen West Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, G ...

'' (2002; television series) *''The Blind Date'' (2000) *''Trial by Fire'' (1999; TV)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fyfield, Frances 1948 births Living people English people of Irish descent English crime fiction writers English thriller writers People from Derbyshire Alumni of Newcastle University 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers English women novelists Women mystery writers Women thriller writers