Spalding author Christina James on her novel Chasing Hares - and how Lincolnshire Police and local characters helped to inspire the plot

Author Christina James has, for a long time, set her crime fiction novels in and around the Fenland countryside where she grew up.

Real name Linda Bennett, she was born in Spalding and is a former pupil of the High School. And she has an incredible talent in bringing the characters in her books to life, making you really believe in the people you are reading about.

Her DI Yates series of books have been hugely well received by her readers and she has just published the eighth novel in the series.

The newest novel, called Chasing Hares, is based on two main themes. One is the plot around a murder mystery weekend set at a country house, where events take an unexpected turn when a real murder takes place.

The other is a theme that was suggested by Lincolnshire Police, and is a key part of the novel. It explores the crime of hare coursing, an issue that is high on the agenda for rural police forces.

“I have been followed by Lincolnshire Police for quite some time now,” Linda explained, “and they suggested the hare coursing. I have done a lot of research into it. It is terrible.

“All the country house novel stuff is tongue-in-cheek but the hare coursing stuff is deadly serious. I found out that there are five counties now that run this unit of people who together work to catch hare coursers who often come from outside. The hare coursers in this novel come from Essex.”

In the book, we see DS Juliet Armstrong, who works alongside DI Tim Yates, discover a badly-wounded dog that has been abandoned by hare coursers and she is determined to bring them to justice.

Linda explained that since writing the book she has discovered that the police now have the power to crush the cars of hare coursers.

“I wish I had known that when I wrote the novel; I definitely would have crushed a few cars!” she said.

The murder mystery element of the book is set in a country house on an island in the River Welland in Spalding. The real house that inspired the setting is that of Spalding water taxi’s Anthony Grunwell, which he shares with his partner Marcus.

“I write about this house in Chasing Hares,” Linda said, speaking at the book launch at Anthony’s home. “But I have changed it quite a lot so that it fits with the plot. There is an Anthony character in it, although it’s not entirely Anthony.”

Anthony added: “I am a character in it but his name is Anton Greenweal. There are similarities yes, and with my past career, with the acting and my work in the theatre.

“My character is a professional actor and in it I am rather fond of myself. The reason is I won some kind of reality television thing, and that has rather gone to my head - and I don’t particularly like working with amateurs now!” he laughed.

“I was a born talker. I rabbit on, rabbit on and whatever Linda has picked up is fine by me!”

Marcus also appears in the book as another character.

“I don’t know much about his character but evidently he has the brains, and my character doesn’t have the brains, and he is perhaps the one that keeps the stability there,” Anthony said.

But Linda added: “He actually turns into quite a nasty character. His name is Percy Forsyth-Jones but he turns out to be a bit of a charlatan.”

Fans of the DI Yates series also get to learn more about the detective inspector’s sidekick DS Armstrong in this novel.

“DI Tim Yates was originally meant to be the key character, but my readers have so liked Juliet, and I am very influenced by my readers,” said Linda.

“I wouldn’t say she has taken over but there is more about Juliet in my novels than there is about Tim now.

“When I created Tim I set out to create someone who wasn’t middle-aged, wasn’t drunk, didn’t have a broken marriage, wasn’t your stereotyped detective.

“But then Juliet had more angst than Tim, had more worries about various things, including her sexuality, (she can’t decide what her sexuality is), and I think people found that much more interesting.”

• Chasing Hares by Christina James is out now (Salt Publishing). It is available via Amazon and other bookshops, including Bookmark in Spalding.

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BOOK REVIEW: Gentleman Jack by Christina James

Forces join together to tackle hare coursing

Keeping the focus on rural crime