Howard Linskey (born 16 May 1967) is a British novelist and former journalist. He is best known for the David Blake crime fiction series. This series and his subsequent crime novels are set in the north east of England. Linskey is also the author of two historical thrillers set during the Second World War.

Early life

Linskey grew up in

Ferryhill Ferryhill is a towns in England, town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, England, with an estimated population in 2018 of 9,362. The town grew in the 1900s around the coal mining industry. The last mine officially clo ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England, where he attended Ferryhill Comprehensive School. In 1989, he graduated with a degree in history and politics from the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

before working as a barman, catering manager, and marketing manager for a

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in Books, printed publications. While telev ...

, as well as a variety of sales and account management roles. In 1993, Linskey completed a postgraduate diploma in journalism, after which he worked for several regional newspapers in the North West of England, including for the ''

Warrington Guardian The ''Warrington Guardian'' is a local newspaper that has been published in Warrington, England, since 1853, originally published weekly on Saturdays.''The Literary and Educational Yearbook for 1859'', p. 287 In 1856 it was bought by Alexander ...

''. He was also a regular contributor to

Newcastle United F.C. Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Since the formation of the club in 1881 ...

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''The Mag'' and was the

English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

football correspondent for a Malaysian magazine.

Writing career

Linskey's debut novel, ''The Drop'', was published by No Exit Press in 2011. It is a crime thriller set in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, England, featuring a fictional character, David Blake. The book received favourable reviews and was selected by Peter Millar, writing in the London ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...

'', as one of his top five crime thrillers of 2011. It was later optioned for television by film producer

David Barron David Barron may refer to: * David Barron (film producer) (born 1954), British film producer * David Barron (footballer) (born 1987), Scottish footballer * David J. Barron (born 1967), federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the F ...

. ''The Drop'' was published in Germany by

Droemer Knaur Droemer Knaur is a publishing group based in Munich. The group consists of the book publishers Droemer, Knaur, the Pattloch Publisher and O.W. Barth. Droemer Knaur belongs to the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. Program Droemer Knaur Pu ...

in 2014 as ''Gangland'' (). Two further titles followed in what subsequently became known as the David Blake series: ''The Damage'' (2012), chosen by ''The Times'' as one of its "Top Summer Reads"; and, ''The Dead'' (2013), the final book in the series. Both books broke into the top five

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...

chart and all three titles in the series were recorded as audio books. Linskey then embarked on a new series of crime mystery novels, again set in the north-east of England, featuring journalists Tom Carney and Helen Norton and police detective Ian Bradshaw. Published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

, the series opened with ''No Name Lane'' (2015), followed by ''Behind Dead Eyes'' (2016), ''The Search'' (2017) and ''The Chosen Ones'' (2018). In addition to crime fiction, Linskey has also authored two novels set during the Second World War: ''Hunting the Hangman'' (2017), based on the assassination of

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

, and ''Ungentlemanly Warfare'' (2019), relating to an SOE operation in 1943.

TV series

Linskey was one of the featured authors in the 2017

CBS Reality CBS Reality is a European pay television channel specializing in reality-based programming, including true crime documentaries and factual entertainment. It is operated by AMC Networks International in partnership with Paramount Networks EME ...

television series ''Written In Blood''. Linskey's episode covered Moors murderer Ian Brady.

Personal life

Linskey lives in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

with his wife Alison and daughter Erin. He is a lifelong supporter of

Bibliography

References

External links

Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linskey, Howard 1967 births Living people 21st-century English male writers Alumni of the University of Huddersfield English mystery writers English crime fiction writers English thriller writers People from Ferryhill Writers from County Durham