John Rickards (born 7 January 1978 in

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a British crime writer who signed with

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 ...

at the age of 24.

Life

Before becoming a novelist, Rickards worked as a freelance

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

in the

shipping industry Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it provi ...

on a succession of magazines and news publications, often in an editorial role. He graduated from

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

with a degree in Environmental Engineering, although he has never worked in the field. He lives in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

, Sussex with his partner and son. He also writes under the pseudonym SEAN CREGAN. His novels feature an ex-

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent named Alex Rourke.

Publications

Alex Rourke books

* ''Winter's End'' (2004) * ''The Touch of Ghosts''(2005) *''The Darkness Inside'' (2007)

Anthologies

* ''Dublin Noir'' (the short story "Wish", 2006) * ''Fuck Noir'' (the short story "Twenty Dollar Future")

References

External links

*
Interview on Penguin site

Interview at GreatWriting.co.uk
English crime fiction writers English mystery writers Alumni of Cardiff University 1978 births Living people People from Chipping Barnet People from Eastbourne English male novelists Writers from the London Borough of Barnet {{England-novelist-stub