Chris Simms

Chris Simms writes tense thrillers mostly set in and around Manchester, the area where he lives. However, his debut novel Outside the White Lines had no specific location. Instead, it concerned a psychopathic van driver who roams the UK motorway system at night searching for stranded motorists. The idea came to Chris in the early hours of the morning when his own car had broken down on a lonely stretch of road. His later novels (and short stories) have been nominated for various crime-writing awards.

Although Chris’s novels fall into the crime genre, the types of book that influence him as a writer are psychological thrillers featuring a deeply flawed central character. Examples cited by Chris include The Wasp Factory, The Butcher Boy and The Collector. Chris’s writing has been noted for its simple, pared-back style. He attributes this to his early career as a copywriter in the advertising industry: a role that demands using as few words as possible to get a message across.

Chris edits Case Files, the online magazine of the Crime Readers’ Association. He also holds FHEA accreditation and is a Consultant Fellow with the RLF, giving university workshops that help undergraduates, postgraduates and early career researchers to improve the quality of their writing. In his spare time, Chris competes in open-water swimming events. He is married with four children and is followed everywhere by a scruffy little lurcher.

The son of two teachers, Chris grew up surrounded by homework that didn’t belong to him. Now, with four children of his own, he finds himself in the same situation all over again. The first ever Writing Fellow to be appointed at the University of Manchester, Chris is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. A qualified rugby coach, he has trained a variety of youth teams at his local club. In his spare time, he writes fast-moving thrillers and short stories set in Greater Manchester, where he lives with his wife, kids and a scruffy little lurcher.