Caroline Graham | |
---|---|
Born |
Nuneaton, England |
17 July 1931
Occupation | Novelist |
Education | MA, Writing for the Theatre |
Alma mater | University of Birmingham, Open University |
Genre | Mystery |
Notable works | Chief Inspector Barnaby series |
Caroline Graham (born 17 July 1931) is an English playwright, screenwriter and novelist.
Graham was born in Nuneaton, and attended Nuneaton High School for Girls (a girls' grammar school, now Etone College). She studied with the Open University, and received a degree in writing for the theatre from the University of Birmingham. She currently resides in Suffolk.
Her first published book was Fire Dance (1982), a romance novel. She is best known as the writer of the Chief Inspector Barnaby series, dramatised for television as Midsomer Murders. The first Inspector Barnaby novel, The Killings at Badger's Drift, was published in 1988. Since then she has written six more, with the last novel A Ghost in the Machine published in 2004. The first five Inspector Barnaby novels formed the bases of the first five episodes of Midsomer Murders. She has also written for the soap opera Crossroads. She has appeared in a series on detective writers titled Super Sleuths (2006) and was the narrator for all six episodes of The People's Detective (2010), as well as appearing in episode 3 on her character, Inspector Barnaby.
The Killings at Badger's Drift was well received by the mystery community. It was named by the Crime Writers' Association as one of "The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time". It also won the 1989 Macavity Award for "Best First Novel" and was nominated for the same honour at the 1989 Anthony Awards and the 1988 Agatha Awards.