James Ellson - Writing Fiction in a House Visited by Agatha Christie

Derby Book Festival has teamed up with the Society of Authors, Derby Libraries and Derbyshire Library Service to organise a series of talks by local authors in libraries across the city and county in June with more planned in the autumn. 

James Ellson is a crime writer who was a police officer in the UK for 15 years, starting in London and finishing as a Detective Inspector at Moss Side in Manchester. He lives in an old hunting and shooting lodge once owned by the Watts family. Sir James Watts was Lord Mayor of Manchester in 1855. His son, also James Watts, married Madge Miller who was the sister of Agatha Christie. Agatha spent time them with at Christmas and on other occasions. This talk explores the connections between two crime writers and explains why James often feels there’s someone looking over his shoulder as he writes.