Peter James's 6 best books

Peter James has worked as a screenwriter and a producer of numerous films, including the The Merchant Of Venice, starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. His novels include the award winning Detective Superintendent Roy Grace crime series. One of James's six best books, as shared at the Daily Express:

BRIGHTON ROCK by Graham Greene

I read this when I was 14 and one day wanted to write a crime novel set in Brighton that was 10 per cent as good. It broke all the rules because it didn’t open with a dead body in a country house. Greene had a wonderful way of describing character, giving just a sense of the person.

I’ve borrowed this style.

Read about another book on the list.

Brighton Rock is among Peter James's top ten books about Brighton, Lucy Worsley's ten best fictional detectives, Alex Barclay's top ten psychological thrillers, and Linda Grant's five best books with novel approaches to kindness.

--Marshal Zeringue