Writers’ real-life experiences bring crime novels alive
ARTHUR Cole and Nigel Williams are the joint authors of a series of crime novels that are thrilling readers throughout Wales and beyond.
And the hero of their books is DC Terry McGuire who having risen through the ranks is now a hardnosed detective much admired by some but who we learn is hated by those who step outside the law.
Arthur, born and bred in a small mining village near Maesteg, the son of a miner and one of six children, says: “My literary career began late in life and after leaving school at seventeen I joined the Glamorgan Constabulary and for two years I walked the beat in Maesteg and Bridgend.’’
He also played for the British Police soccer team until an injury ended his sporting career and he was promoted to Detective Sergeant in 1986 and later joined the Special Branch and was posted to Cardiff Airport.
Arthur says: “I wrote the first thriller Unethical Conduct with the help of
Nigel who had previously published his own books and I had never met him before. It was all done on the internet.’’
Nigel, who was born in 1960 in Abercraf, worked as a tour guide at Dan-yrOgof Caves during the school holidays and later as a kitchen planner.
He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1981 and was posted to Brixton in south London.
However, he was transferred to Wales where he worked in Swansea before joining the traffic department at Baglan where he trained as a firearms officer and became a specialist VIP and Special Escort Group driver responsible for protecting visiting dignitaries and high risk prisoners and this experience would later provide material for the many books he has had published.
After being struck by a stolen car and fracturing his spine and unable to continue as a police officer, Nigel returned to university and achieved a first class honours degree in Fine Art.
A teaching qualification followed and then a masters degree in Fine Art and he has paintings in public and private collections in many countries including the USA and Australia.
Now the Curriculum Leader for the A-Level Fine Art programme at Gower College, Swansea, Nigel wrote his first novel - Eden Relics - in 2010 “as part of a mid-life crisis bucket list.’’
The book went on to make the top ten best sellers list for the genre and more books followed.
He later teamed up with Arthur Cole to pen the Terry McGuire series of crime thrillers which were published by Wordcatcher the Cardiff publishers.
With nine books in the series and a total of 23 novels churned out, Nigel and Arthur are now working on a new series of books which will feature a new protagonist.
The books in the Terry McGuire series are Unethical Conduct; Edge Of Integrity; Death And Depravity;
Angel Of Death; Nest Of Vipers; Night Hawker; Redemption and Betrayal.
The latest, Raven, is about a murder that takes place at the Elvis Festival in Porthcawl and what should have been a fun festival turns into a bloody nightmare for all.