Crime writer enjoying charts success with second thriller

And Chris says his follow up to Tough Season is soaring up the Amazon charts and is getting good reviews, as he works on the third, due for release later this year.

Chris, already known for penning autobiographies of famous singers Joe Longthorne and Tony Christie, released his debut novel Tough Season through publisher Great Northern Books, which was nominated in the prestigious Crime Writers Association’s Dagger Awards 2020 and has gone to reprint.

“Readers are a writer’s lifeblood and it is always great to receive comments that they really love the stories and the characters,” said Chris as he took time out from writing Tough World the third book in the series, to talk with Wetherby News.

“They are all-action stories that feature Greg Duggan, a rugby league player who finds himself at the centre of all kinds of problems with nefarious people.”

Chris chose the sport as the backdrop to tales of murder, abductions, greed and vice having admired Dick Francis in using horse racing and because of his personal interest and experience.

Born in Hull, he’s a diehard Hull KR supporter and was editor of a magazine for Leeds Rhinos.

“Tough Season was the first ever crime thriller to feature rugby league and it was a bit of a gamble, but it has paid off and there has been talk of a TV series,” added Chris.

“I’d originally intended the books as a trilogy and then moving on to a new central character in a completely different environment, but readers have shown an appetite for further Greg Duggan stories.”

While the opening book was set in a fictitious Pennine town, Tough Season In The Sun sees the action move to the Canary Islands.

“I love Playa Blanca in Lanzarote,’ said Chris. “I wanted a different location for Greg’s latest adventure, somewhere hot and sunny and in keeping with the sport’s desire to extend its appeal and allow me now boundaries with even more dramatic action.

“It’s pretty explosive with some huge twists and turns.”

Many will also know Chris from his Chris Berry Band and the former Singing Farmers, which have performed on stage throughout the region and nationally during broadcasts.

Tough Season In The Sun and Tough Season are available in paperback and as eBook through all bookshops and online outlets including Amazon and Waterstones.

Signed copies can be ordered direct from Chris via www.chrisberry.tv or by visiting his Facebook page.