Read a little about me
Crime fiction at its best
Charlie Garratt grew up in Manchester, in an area known as Tripe Colony due to its original connections to producers of that infamous and synonymously-northern cattle product. At eighteen he moved to Coventry, Warwickshire, where he underwent the common life steps of college, work, marriage and family.
From the mid-1970s, the writing phase of his life developed, firstly in the production of training manuals and videos, through reports and policy papers, until early-retirement and a move to Donegal, Ireland, took him into his first novel.
Charlie is author of a series of crime novels featuring Inspector James Given, set in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and recently released the first in a new series set in 18th century Shropshire.
His love of crime fiction goes way back to childhood and adolescence. Whether it be the Famous Five’s criminal investigations, science fiction detectives on distant worlds, or Wilkie Collins’ immortal The Moonstone.
Charlie believes there is something fundamental in crime fiction. The unravelling of a mystery, the search for truth, and the thrill of the hunt. All of Charlie’s detective novels offer these in spades.
He’s also written a family saga, A Handkerchief for Maria, a novel based on researches in to his own family.
In 2016, three of Charlie’s short stories were included in a collection, Wild Atlantic Words, fifteen tales drawing from his life on the west coast of Ireland.
Charlie now lives near Ironbridge, Shropshire, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. The series he is working on at present draws its inspiration from this area.
When he’s not writing, he enjoys gardening, playing and listening to music, genealogy and, of course, reading crime fiction.