Bryan Lawson

I don’t know about any of you but I like a good book now and then. Admittedly I don’t read as many as I used to but I still read a fair few. When I was catching a train to work up until about a year ago, I was fairly well rattling through them. But more recently I have not read as many. However, a new book by Bryan Lawson took my eye the other day. Who is Bryan Lawson and what is his new book about?

Bryan Lawson

Bryan Lawson-Author

It just happens, Bryan isn’t only an author, but an author from Chester. Having been alerted to Bryan’s new book yesterday, I rang Bryan and it seems that Chester isn’t the only thing we have in common. We both attended further education in “tha’ knows” Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Although I am proud of my academic days in Sheffield, I think Bryan did rather better!!! Here’s his bio including how he became an author

Bryan Lawson Bio

Bryan Lawson likes to say that after a long career in which he pretended to be an academic he has now turned to crime!  He has just published his first crime mystery and it is set in Chester.

Bryan Lawson was born and spent the early part of his life in Chester.  The family lived along the Whitchurch Road and Bryan went to Cherry Grove School and then the Chester Grammar School.  As he grew out of wanting to be an engine driver Bryan saw his future as an architect. Actually he still wants to be an engine driver, but that is another story. Perhaps it was the abundance of interesting buildings in Chester that triggered some personal ambition.

His father used to tell stories of how the young Bryan would stand in the centre of Chester telling bemused American tourists that they were photographing new rather than old buildings.  In those days the town planners used to prefer new buildings inside the city walls to take on the mantle of black and white and preferably timbered construction.

Bryan eventually studied at the Oxford School of Architecture. However he quickly developed an interest not just in buildings themselves but in the way they influence the lives of people in and around them. This took him to Birmingham to study psychology for his masters and doctoral degrees.  He has written and researched this field extensively. In particular he has worked on the way healthcare buildings can be designed in ways that help people to recover from illness more quickly.

Bryan The Novelist

When Bryan retired as the Head and Dean of the faculty of Architectural Studies at Sheffield University he finally found the time to become a novelist and began a new career in crime writing.  It was inevitable that he would return to Chester for the scene of his first novel.  Chester provided the ideal setting for a mystery that begins with a murder on the suspension bridge.

Bryan remembers being fascinated by it when crossing the bridge on his way to the Grammar School.  Events also happen in The Chester Grosvenor, Handbridge, along the Bridge Street Rows and The Groves.  There is even a memory of a little shop called The Orient opposite the cathedral where his parents used to sell their arts and crafts.

The novel also deals with how the past and present collide in our lives and the mystery also deals with the history of Singapore.  To say more would spoil the reader’s enjoyment of this fascinating book.

Bryan is currently writing a mystery set in the world of opera in London and Sydney.  He is sure however that he will bring his detective back to Chester again before too long.

See more on Bryan at www.bryanlawson.org

A Degree Of Death

So what is Bryan’s Chester based novel? Well, it is called “A Degree Of Death” and is available on Amazon.

With Bryan’s permission I have posted an excerpt from the book to whet your appetite HERE.

In the meantime if you would like to buy a copy – see the links below.

I hope you enjoy it and best of luck to Bryan in his new career.