#PeterJamesUK – Bookmarks and Stages by Lou

One Of Us Is Dead
By Peter James

Review By Louise (Lou)

One Of Us Is Dead is the latest Roy Grace book by Peter James and it’s another fabulous read, from the intriguing title to the masterful plotting inside…
I nicely received this some time after it being organised by one of the Bloody Scotland organisers after watching him give a talk, which you can read about at the end of my book review in a link from a previous publication my review of it.
Peter James also has a UK theatre tour of a play version of Picture You Dead, see more about this in my review from Bloody Scotland too.
First, onto the book in hand, One Of Us Is Dead.

Blurb

Roy Grace is about to find out just how dangerous a dead man can be . . .

When James Taylor arrives late for a funeral, he has to stand at the back of the small church. But, as the service progresses, Taylor notices a man six rows in front of him. At first he thinks he must be mistaken, but the more he looks at the man, the more convinced Taylor becomes that this is his old schoolfriend Rufus Rorke.

Except it couldn’t be him, could it? Because two years ago Taylor attended Rufus Rorke’s funeral. He even delivered Rufus’s eulogy.

On the other side of Brighton, at Police HQ, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace has been alerted to a number of suspicious deaths that he can’t get out of his mind. But how are they linked? And could they possibly be connected to Rufus Rorke?

One Of Us Is Dead is the latest race-against-time instalment of the award-winning Grace series by Peter James, now a major ITV show starring John Simm.

Review

A dead man shouldn’t be dangerous, he’s dead, but this is different…

The mystery is a twisty one and is it a case of mistaken identity or a dopple-ganger or is there more to this than meets the eye when James Taylor, a pilot, attends a funeral and catches sight of someone bearing a rather similar look to his dead school-friend, Rufus Rourke?

These are the questions for DS Grace and his team to answer…

The killer is often a step-ahead, but it’s intriguing to see what the other characters do. We see this roll out from different perspectives, with deaths looking like a coincidence at first, but of course, we know differently, it being a crime fiction novel and all that.

The plot is slick and plays out rather more deviously than it first looks and reels and grips readers in bit by bit, as Peter James plays with the mastermind of the criminal and the reader adeptly and masterful, so those pages keep turning right to the end, with every word read.

This is a long running series I highly recommend, with every case being different from the last, with cleverly crafted plots and characters that make you want to discover more about the nefarious goings on in Brighton and Hove.

Review from Bloody Scotland Peter James with Elly Griffiths

About the Author

Peter James is a UK No.1 bestselling author, best known for his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, now a hit ITV drama starring John Simm as the troubled Brighton copper.

Much loved by crime and thriller fans for his fast-paced page-turners full of unexpected plot twists, sinister characters, and accurate portrayal of modern day policing, he has won over 40 awards for his work including the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award and Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger. In 2024, it was announced that he is the creator of Her Majesty Queen Camilla’s favourite fictional detective.

To date, Peter has written an impressive total of 20 Sunday Times No. 1s, sold over 21 million copies worldwide and been translated into 38 languages. His books are also often adapted for the stage, with his six stage shows grossing over £17 million at the box office – the most recent being Wish You Were Dead.

Peter James and Elly Griffiths

written by Louise Cannon (Lou)

Peter James and Elly Griffiths are so entertaining together, the perfect match for a panel. If you ever get the chance to see them, either alone or together, I highly recommend it. You’re in for a real treat. The event was 1hr and it was a captivating one. What an absolute delight to meet him afterwards too. The queue was massive, all around the signing room, which is a fair side, so some fast talking was needed to be fair on everyone else.

Peter James talked about his series – Grace and this September saw the launch of his 20th novel – Someone Is Dead. Amazingly, this series has seen 21 million sold and translated into 38 languages, as well as it being on tv on ITV/STV. It pulls a massive audience. One member of that audience is the Queen, so turns out readers are in the most excellent of company. He also has a theatre play, check the link out further on. Thanks to Peter James for the photo.

It’s often fascinating when authors talk about their crime fiction books and the way they see them as a puzzle (they essentially are). He used an interesting analogy of it being 1000’s of small pieces of a puzzle having to piece together. What’s interesting and different is how he decided to have the puzzle so much closer to Grace’s home and family, in fact so personal that it’s his wife who is seemingly loving and sounding pretty great, goes missing and how he shows bits about her in several books, going up to his stand alone about Sandy’s story.

The latest book – One of Us is Dead sounds intriguing about how a dangerous a dead man might actually be and it’s a race of time to find out. I will be receiving this book some time from his publishers to review, thanks to the Bloody Scotland team.

Peter James is smart and fortunate that he has a good handle on his tv series – Grace, played by John Simm. He even chose John Simm to play the character and pictured his main protagonist as being someone like him. This is quite probably why the tv series works so well, is because he has been able to gain so much control over it. Interestingly, Peter James spoke about doing some acting himself, quite some time ago.

Grace is on tv just now on ITV/STV and on the catch up services.

Picture You Dead is coming to theatres across the UK in 2025.
Check it out in this link here: Picture You Dead
Check out more works by Peter James here: https://www.peterjames.com/

The book was fabulous and I rated it 5/5 stars when I had a lovely opportunity to read it a while back. After seeing Wish You Were Dead on stage, which was divine, I am certain the stage show will do well too.

Elly Griffiths has a new book is a Ruth Galloway book, The Last Word, set in rural Sussex. It was interesting hearing how she didn’t know the book was going to be so popular or subsequently go on for so long. She read a passage from her book and she has a knack of hitting all the points of the real world, much like Peter James’ books do too, as she read about Wordle and such activities we all got into. She divulged about how her Ruth Galloway books were optioned a few times for tv and sadly haven’t gone any further as yet. I can think of a few authors that has happened to.

For those who don’t know, Elly Griffiths is a pseudonym for Domenica de Rosa and it was interesting hearing why she changed it. It wasn’t for any reason I’d have thought of, but it was to sound more convincing and real than her actual real name. Sadly didn’t manage to capture a photo of Elly on the account of needing to get to the next event.

She talked about having a desire to try out different things, but hasn’t said never again for Ruth Galloway. For something different, I personally recommend Postscript Murders, it’s brilliantly entertaining and so original. I seem to recall rating it 5/5 stars.

Check out more Elly Griffiths books here: https://ellygriffiths.co.uk/my-books/

Check out my review of The Postscript Murders here: Postscript Murders