Simon Beckett

Simon Beckett (born April 20, 1960 (according to other information 1968 ) in Sheffield , Great Britain ) is a British journalist and author . He became known through several thrillers around the fictional forensic anthropologist David Hunter. His books have been translated into 29 languages ​​to date and have sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

biography

After graduating with a Masters of Arts in English, Beckett worked as a real estate agent, caretaker, English and Spanish teacher, and drummer before devoting himself entirely to writing. As a freelance journalist, he has written for The Times , The Independent on Sunday , The Daily Telegraph , The Observer, and other publications.

During research he got to know the police work from the inside; this applies in particular to his experience with the Body Farm of the University of Tennessee in Tennessee , USA , a research institute for decomposition processes. This knowledge base benefited his novels.

As early as 1996, the German “Raymond Chandler Gesellschaft e. V. ”for the novel Animals den Marlowe in the“ International ”category. His book The Chemistry of Death appeared in 2006 and spans a crime story around the fictional forensic scientist David Hunter. The novel was nominated for the 2006 Dagger Award . In the summer of 2007 he continued the David Hunter series with the novel Cold Ashes , in which he addresses and demystifies spontaneous human spontaneous combustion. At the beginning of 2009, his next novel, Leichenpächer , was published, which is set in Tennessee and also addresses David Hunter's work on the Body Farm. Together with Arne Dahl , Beckett received the Ripper Award in 2018 .

The novel Obsession , published in 1998 and in German in 2009 , is set in London and is about an autistic boy. He is not part of the David Hunter series.

Beckett is married and lives in Sheffield with his wife Hilary .

bibliography

The David Hunter series

• 2006 The Chemistry of Death
  • The chemistry of death , German by Andree Hesse , Wunderlich, Reinbek 2006, ISBN 978-3-8052-0811-6 .
• 2007 Written in Bone
  • Kalte Asche , German by Andree Hesse, Wunderlich, Reinbek 2007, ISBN 978-3-8052-0812-3 .
• 2009 Whispers of the Dead
  • Corpse pallor , German by Andree Hesse, Wunderlich, Reinbek 2009, ISBN 978-3-8052-0866-6 .
• 2010 The Calling of the Grave
  • Decay , German by Andree Hesse, Wunderlich, Reinbek 2011, ISBN 978-3-8052-0867-3 . ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from March 7th to May 8th 2011 )
• 2013 Cat and Mouse
  • Cat and mouse. A David Hunter story (short story), German by Hans-Ulrich Möhring, Rowohlt E-Book, Reinbek 2013, ISBN 978-3-644-21431-6 .
• 2017 The Restless Dead
  • Catching the dead , German by Sabine Längfeld and Karen Witthuhn, Wunderlich, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-8052-5001-6 .
• 2019 The Scent of Death
  • The Eternal Dead , German by Karen Witthuhn and Sabine Längfeld, Wunderlich, Reinbek near Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-8052-5002-3 .

more novels

• 1994 Fine Lines
  • Voyeur , German by Andree Hesse, Rowohlt , Reinbek 2010, ISBN 978-3-499-24917-4 (former title Galerie der Verführung ).
• 1995 Animals
  • Animals , German by Andree Hesse, Rowohlt, Reinbek 2011, ISBN 978-3-499-24915-0 .
• 1997 Where There's Smoke
  • Flammenbrut , German by Michaela Link , Rowohlt, Reinbek 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-24916-7 (former title Das Kind des Prometheus ).
• 1998 Owning Jacob
  • Obsession , German by Andree Hesse, Rowohlt, Reinbek 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-24886-3 .
• 2014 Stone Bruises
  • Der Hof , German by Juliane Pahnke; Wunderlich, Reinbek 2014, ISBN 978-3-8052-5068-9 . ( No. 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from February 17 to March 16, 2014 )

Short stories

• Snowfall . In: Deadly Gifts. The most exciting Christmas thrillers . Ed. Silke Jellinghaus, Wunderlich Verlag, Reinbek 2009, ISBN 978-3-8052-0883-3 , pp. 7-16.
• Just a normal day . In: Tatort Tannenbaum. Commissioners celebrate Christmas . Ed. Friederike Ney, Wunderlich Verlag, Reinbek 2012, ISBN 978-3-8052-5048-1 , pp. 7-29.
• Cat and mouse . (David Hunter series) Rowohlt E-Book, 2013, ISBN 978-3-644-21431-6 .

Audio books

• The chemistry of death . Audiobook, Freiburg / B. 2006, ISBN 3-89964-196-5 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck , 457 min.)
• Cold ashes . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86610-725-0 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 449 min.), (DE: Gold in Audiobook Award)
• Corpse pallor . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86610-594-2 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 454 min.)
• Flame brood . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86610-941-4 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 417 min.)
• Obsession . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86610-618-5 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 472 min.)
• Voyeur . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8398-9034-9 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 410 min.)
• Animals . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-8398-1074-3 (on 5 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 384 min.)
• Putrefaction . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-8398-1087-3 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 430 min.)
• Cat and mouse . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-8398-1290-7 (on 1 CD, read by Johannes Steck, 57 min.)
• The yard . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-8398-1301-0 (on 6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 439 min.)
• Catching the Dead . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-8398-1535-9 (on 12 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 947 min.)
• The eternal dead . Argon Verlag, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-8398-1667-7 (on 11 CDs, read by Johannes Steck, 13 hours)

Web links

• Literature by and about Simon Beckett in the catalog of the German National Library (de)
• Official website
• Interview with Simon Beckett at LovelyBooks.de
• The killer understanding . Conversation with Simon Beckett. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , March 30, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Munzinger.de
2. ↑ Gold / platinum database of the Federal Association of the Music Industry, accessed on May 23, 2016