Journalist Robert Rennick has penned his first crime novel – and it’s about a regional press reporter fending off competition to get his scoop on an evening paper!

Robert, formerly of the Slough Express, South Wales Argus and Sheffield Star, also worked for the Fleet Street news agency before taking up his current job in broadcast journalism for International News.

His dark crime thriller The Fallen, is set on the Isle of Wight and creates a new – fictional – evening newspaper for the island, the Wight Evening Star.

And the book’s main protagonist, Iain Hogan, is its chief reporter, fighting the other local newspaper hacks for the best stories.

Robert said: “I chose the character I did after being advised to write about what you know – so I did.

“I didn’t research up-to-date local newspaper work but simply replaced the old Imperials with PCs!

“I set out to write a journalism procedural. The police do appear in the book, but it mostly revolves around journalists seeking the truth. I’ve always felt journalists are generally pretty poorly portrayed in crime stories, so I tried in my own small way to put that right.”

He was inspired to write the book by the magnificent landscape of the island’s south coast.

Most of the action takes place near Blackgang, Niton, St Lawrence, Ventnor and Bonchurch – but some of the geography has been ‘adjusted’ to try to avoid lots of potential libel suits landing on his doormat.

He said: “Last summer we’d been camping near Shanklin at Ninham Country Holidays. We loved the Isle of Wight but my wife found sleeping in a tent a bit nerve-wracking, especially when the wind blew.

“I just happened to be glancing through the local property pages and saw an attractive-looking little holiday chalet near Blackgang. We fell in love with it, and although we haven’t any spare cash, found that by adjusting our mortgage payments we could raise the finance.”

But as soon as he and his family started using the chalet, Robert, (44), found dark tales entering his head.

He said: “I’ve worked as a journalist for twenty years, but never tried fiction.

“This plot sort of evolved and I decided to have a go. But it is a dark tale – not for the faint-hearted!

“Some American reviewers have compared my writing to that of Stephen Booth – a fairly new, and very successful crime writer, who was also a local newspaper journalist. I’m not claiming my book’s anywhere near as good as his are. But the aim was to write and entertaining read that holidaymakers on the island, and islanders themselves, might while away a few hours with. I hope I’ve succeeded in that, at least.”

And the plot? Newly-arrived on the island after retreating from redundancy in London, reporter Hogan is sucked into a mystery when he discovers the body of a teenage girl at the foot of a cliff on the island’s south coast. When the local police officers mistake him for a new member of their own CID, he gets a close look at the body.

It’s the beginning of a frustrating search for the truth for Hogan. Who is the girl? And did she fall … or was she pushed? A helpful female detective feeds Hogan a series of scoops about the case, and a local man is arrested. But Hogan becomes suspicious – something doesn’t add up.

As he pieces the jigsaw together he finds new obstacles stand in his way. Someone doesn’t like his nosing around and someone wants him out of the way. He’s now facing a desperate battle to save his career …and his life.

Robert said: “We’ve brought it out straight into mass market paperback format, even though it’s a fairly small print run. But that’s helped keep the cost down to just £6.99 – a lot cheaper than a hardback or trade paperback which is what most first editions tend to be.”

The Fallen is published by Eyelevel Books, ISBN 190252814X.

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