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WORK TITLE: What Falls Between the Cracks
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.robertscragg.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: English
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2011116359 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2011116359 |
| HEADING: | Scragg, Robert, 1950- |
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| 005 | 20110730074503.0 |
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| 010 | __ |a no2011116359 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca08928321 |
| 040 | __ |a Nz |b eng |c Nz |
| 100 | 1_ |a Scragg, Robert, |d 1950- |
| 670 | __ |a Trends in cigarette smoking and purchasing by fourth-form students … via WWW, July 8, 2011: |b t.p. of .pdf (Robert Scragg) |
| 670 | __ |a NZ database, July 8, 2011: |b (hdg.: Scragg, Robert, 1950-) |
PERSONAL
Born 1950; married; children: yes.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and crime novelist. Has worked in the telecommunications industry and variously as a bookseller, karate instructor, pizza delivery driver, and football coach.
AVOCATIONS:Martial arts, scuba diving, mountain climbing, English football, reading crime fiction.
MEMBER:North East Noir crime writers group (founding member).
WRITINGS
Contributor to websites, including Crime Time.
SIDELIGHTS
Robert Scragg is a writer and crime novelist based in Tyne and Wear, England, a community on the northeast coast of the country near the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. He has worked in the telecommunications industry and in various positions such as bookseller, karate instructor, and football coach. He is a practicing martial artist as well as a scuba diver and mountain climber.
A biographer on the Robert Scragg website noted that Scragg hadn’t done much writing since leaving college, but he changed his mind “around seven years ago when an idea for a book popped up that he found too interesting to ignore.” The novel’s main characters, Jake Porter and Nick Styles, also “started to nag him to write it,” the website writer stated. The idea for the novel involved constructing what, in the modern world, could be a perfect crime. “In my opinion, the perfect crime is one of two things. Either nobody even knows one has even been committed and it stays undiscovered, or it’s covered up so well, that it’s impossible to unravel what happened, and who is responsible,” Scragg wrote on the website Crime Time. In today’s society, however, there is so much surveillance—video, digital, and physical—that it would be nearly impossible to commit an act without some trace of it being recorded. “But what if the crime had been committed so long ago, that none of this was of any use?,” Scragg mused on the Crime Time site.
Scragg’s debut crime novel—the one he was unable to ignore, and the one that resulted from his thoughts about the perfect crime—is What Falls Between the Cracks. In this book, the author examines what happens when modern detectives try to solve a case that is decades old, and one that was never investigated or even recorded when the crime first occurred. After a severed hand is found in a defrosted freezer in an abandoned London apartment, a DNA test identifies it as belonging to Natasha Barclay, a woman who lived in the apartment more than thirty years ago. When detective inspector Jake Porter and detective sergeant Nick Styles look into the matter, they find that Barclay disappeared shortly after her father sold his transportation business in 1983. However, she was never reported missing and that there is no existing criminal or legal case connected to her. Apparently, no one ever bothered to look for her. As Porter and Styles delve deeper into the mystery, they encounter roadblocks from Barclay’s rich and powerful family. As more evidence comes to light, however, the developing story of Natasha Barclay takes on a more macabre and sinister aspect while threatening to have major repercussions in the present.
“This a classic police procedural, with a host of engaging characters,” as well as a “fine mystery,” commented Booklist reviewer Jane Murphy. “Scragg’s detectives have the right combination of passion and savvy” in this “satisfying debut and series launch,” stated a writer in Publishers Weekly.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 15, 2018, Jane Murphy, review of What Falls between the Cracks, p. 27.
Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2018, review of What Falls between the Cracks, p. 40.
Xpress Reviews, June 15, 2018, Kristen Stewart, review of What Falls between the Cracks.
ONLINE
Book Trail, https://www.thebooktrail.com/ (April 11, 2018), review of What Falls Between the Cracks.
Crime Time, http://www.crimetime.co.uk/ (December 5, 2017), “What Falls Between the Cracks: Robert Scragg Talks to Crime Time,” interview with Robert Scragg.
Robert Scragg website, http://www.robertscragg.com (September 3, 2018).
Robert Scragg
Robert Scragg is a northerner born and bred, and has had a random mix of jobs to date, including bookseller, pizza deliverer, Karate instructor, and Football Coach. He originally intended to join the legal profession, but after getting his degree, ended up with a job in Telecoms.
Writing was something he hadn’t done much of since he left school, until around seven years ago when an idea for a book popped up that he found too interesting to ignore, and his lead character, Jake Porter, plus his partner Nick Styles started to nag him to write it. His first novel, What Falls Between the Cracks, is the first in the Porter & Styles series. It was pitched during the 2016 Theakston’s Crime Festival at the “Dragon’s Pen”, to a panel of agents and editors, managing to get four ‘yes’ votes, and has since been picked up by Allison & Busby. It’s due to be released in Hardback and e-book on 19th April 2018, with paperback to follow on 20th September.
Robert lives in Tyne & Wear, with his wife, children and dog. Away from work and writing, he’s a long-suffering follower of Newcastle United, fan of all things martial arts, scuba diving and mountain climbing, and self-confessed crime fiction junkie. His favourites in the genre include Harlan Coben, Robert Crais, Linwood Barclay, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Sarah Hilary, Mari Hannah, Mark Billingham and Howard Linskey to name but a few.
Robert is also a founding member of the North East Noir crime writers group that was born following a workshop at Newcastle Noir crime writing festival in 2015, which meets regularly to discuss each other’s WIP’s, offer/receive feedback & chat about all things crime fiction related.
Check out Robert’s blog for his latest ramblings on his journey so far into the world of crime writing.
What Falls between the Cracks
Jane Murphy
Booklist.
114.18 (May 15, 2018): p27. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
What Falls between the Cracks.
By Robert Scragg.
June 2018.320p. Allison & Busby, $25 (9780749022792).
In an interview on the Crime Time website, debut author Scragg defines what, for him, is the perfect crime: "Either nobody even knows one has been committed and it stays undiscovered, or it's covered up so well that it's impossible to unravel what happened and who is responsible." So, putting those ideas into action, Scragg gives us Natasha Barclay, whose severed hand is found in an empty apartment. After using DNA to match the hand to a person, London detective Jake Porter and his partner, Nick Styles, are blown away by the fact that Natasha has apparently been missing for 30 years, and, sadly, no one has been looking for her. Deepening the mystery is Natasha's uncooperative and well-connected family; as the story unravels, those connections become more and more sinister. This a classic police procedural, with a host of engaging characters. Porter is a daring and determined investigator, sensitized and left somewhat damaged by his own wife's unsolved murder. Recommend this fine mystery to all procedural fans, especially followers of Peter James' Roy Grace and Alison Bruce's Gary Goodhew.--Jane Murphy
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Murphy, Jane. "What Falls between the Cracks." Booklist, 15 May 2018, p. 27. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541400826/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=00f8494d. Accessed 10 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541400826
1 of 3 8/10/18, 9:32 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
What Falls Between the Cracks
Publishers Weekly.
265.18 (Apr. 30, 2018): p40+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
What Falls Between the Cracks
Robert Scragg. Allison & Busby, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7490-2279-2
The discovery of a hand inside a defrosted freezer in an abandoned London flat drives British author Scragg's satisfying debut and series launch. A DNA match links the severed hand to Natasha Barclay, who lived in the flat decades earlier. When Det. Insp. Jake Porter and his partner, Det. Sgt. Nick Styles, investigate, they learn that Natasha's father, Nathan, killed himself in 1983-around the time that he sold his haulage firm to Alexander Locke, the head of an import- export company, and Natasha disappeared. The police drug force currently has Locke, who's now married to Nathan's ex-wife and Natasha's stepmother, and his security chief, James Bolton, under surveillance. Porter and Styles combine their efforts with the drug unit after one of their officers is killed and another grievously wounded in a raid. Meanwhile, a possible mole in the police department complicates their joint task. Scragg's detectives have the right combination of passion and savvy, and his plot is easy to follow while still saving some surprises for the end. Fans of British police procedural will eagerly await the sequel. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"What Falls Between the Cracks." Publishers Weekly, 30 Apr. 2018, p. 40+. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537852245/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=6dc2435c. Accessed 10 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537852245
2 of 3 8/10/18, 9:32 PM
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Scragg, Robert. What Falls Between
the Cracks
Kristen Stewart
Xpress Reviews.
(June 15, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Stewart, Kristen. "Scragg, Robert. What Falls Between the Cracks." Xpress Reviews, 15 June
2018. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A543990848 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=66ba4e48. Accessed 10 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A543990848
3 of 3 8/10/18, 9:32 PM
What Falls Between the Cracks: Robert Scragg talks to Crime Time
Contributor: Robert Scraggs
Dec 5, 2017
Dream up a cast of interesting characters, shovel plenty of adversity at them, and how they cope makes for the bones of a story. This was my mind-set around seven years ago, when I made my first serious attempt at writing a novel. Despite being a Northerner, I chose London as the backdrop, partly due to me spending a lot of time working down there at the time.
What I failed to appreciate at the time though, was just how important the choice of setting can be. It’s one thing to simply state to your reader where events are taking place. It’s another entirely to make that place come alive, complete with the sights, scents and sounds that drop a reader smack bang in the middle of your scene. I’d done enough to attract the attention of a few agents with my first draft, but looking back now, I realise that my characters were playing their parts against a bland backdrop. One of the key changes I believe made the difference for me, and helped me find an agent, was making the setting pop off the page like a character in its own right. It makes everything more vivid, more three-dimensional. You need to view your setting through all of your character’s senses, not just their eyes. There are some great examples around at the moment, like Ian Rankin with his Rebus novels set in Edinburgh, or Ann Cleeves and her Shetland series. and hopefully I’ve used my experience of working on London to capture enough of its character and spirit in my own writing.
Nowadays, I like to visit the places my characters do wherever possible, and walk in their footsteps, but thanks to tools like Google street view, you can even bluff your way through it to an extent. However you do it though, never underestimate the role that setting can play. Whether it’s set in a big city, tucked away somewhere rural, bounces from one country to the next, or even set on another planet, learn from my mistakes, choose carefully, and give it as much thought and TLC as you would one of your characters. You’ll not regret it.
——————————————————————————————————————
Is there such a thing as the “perfect crime”, and how would you get away with it? Confession time – personally, I’ve always had a soft spot for an ending where not everyone necessarily gets their comeuppance. Books like Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, or You by Caroline Kepnes are some of my favourite examples of how effectively this works when done well. As readers, we’re conditioned to expect that most things will be tied up in a neat package, but sometimes that can come about a little too conveniently. Sometimes we even find ourselves rooting for someone on the wrong side of the law, and wouldn’t begrudge them if they got away with it. Maybe they’re actually a decent sort at heart, but got caught up in terrible circumstances. Either way, some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being caught.
In my opinion, the perfect crime is one of two things. Either nobody even knows one has even been committed and it stays undiscovered, or it’s covered up so well, that it’s impossible to unravel what happened, and who is responsible. Admittedly the former might not work too well as a novel. That got me thinking though, nowadays, so much of our lives are open to scrutiny, from our social media posts, to the dozens of CCTV cameras we go past every day. In theory, it should be getting harder to get away with anything, without leaving a trace, either digital or physical. But what if the crime had been committed so long ago, that none of this was of any use? This was the train of thought that led me to the idea for What Falls Between the Cracks, and provides the opening of the book. A thirty-year-old crime scene, a girl who was never reported missing, not even by her own family or friends. What happened to her? With no body at the scene, did she run, or did she meet an unfortunate end?
There could be, and probably are, hundreds of crimes that go undiscovered or unpunished. I’m fascinated by the idea that even people we think we know, could have secrets they don’t want airing, and the lengths they might go to, to keep it that way. In fact, I’m sure we all have our secrets, some more damaging than others. The beauty of this notion from a writers point of view, is that it can play out equally as well in a domestic setting, as it does in a high-octane thriller, and gives us so much room and material to work with. By definition, the crime in my book isn’t perfect then, as it does come to light right at the start. Whether it gets solved or not, I guess you’ll have to read it and find out.
Location: London
Submitted: 11th April 2018
What Falls Between the Cracks
Author/Guide: Robert Scragg
Why a Booktrail?
2000s:The new series featuring DI Jake Porter and his partner Nick Styles
ISBN: 978-0749022792
Genre: Fiction, Police Procedural
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What you need to know before your trail
When a severed hand is found in an abandoned flat, Detective Jake Porter and his partner Nick Styles are able to DNA match the limb to the owner, Natasha Barclay, who has not been seen in decades. But why has no one been looking for her? It seems that Natasha’s family are the people who can least be trusted. Delving into the details behind her disappearance and discovering links to another investigation, a tragic family history begins to take on a darker twist. Hampered by a widespread fear of a local heavy, as well as internal politics and possible corruption within the force, Porter and Styles are digging for answers, but will what they find ever see the light of day?
Use ⌘ + scroll to zoom the map
2
Locations
England - London
A: Walthamstow
B: Paddington Green
C: Edgeware road
D: Nan Clark's Lane
E: Smithfield Market
F: Ruislip - The Waters Edge
Travel Guide
London
A London set police procedural where the Paddington Green locale comes to the fore. The area of Walthamstow is where the flat is found with the freezer containing the hand. It could be any part of Lond, any city, where even those who live in apartment blocks and flats don’t know their neighbours. They don’t even know who lives in one of the flats and have no idea a girl could have been missing for years. Family and friends seem to have lost touch but have never questioned it.
The police follow the case around the city – the city streets are evoked via places such as the Police station, Smithfields market and outlying suburbs but the work of the city police is captured by the busy motorways, the dark streets and the chaos a city brings.
Author trail:
Smithfield Market – I spent a lot of time in London for my day job about five years ago, and walked through Smithfield more times than I can count, although never early enough to see it in full swing. It always struck me as far too grand-looking for the outside to be a meat market! When you take the time to look around, there’s lots of little details a lot of people don’t even notice, like carved dragons either side of the entrance, guarding the way in. I was amazed when I did a little research, that it’s been used as one for over a thousand years – a piece of history still fulfilling the same function today, even as London has grown and sprawled around it.
Ruislip Lido – As much as I needed the hustle and bustle of London as a setting for my story, I needed somewhere a little more secluded for certain parts. That’s not always east to find in a big city, but only 20 miles or so away from the city centre, you’ve got Ruislip Lido. It comes complete with an artificial beach, a mini railway and a woodland centre. I never actually made it here in person, and relied on Google, but looks a fab place to visit.
The Water’s Edge Pub – the pub is nestled just at the edge of the woods, near Ruislip Lido, and the Nature Reserve. I can’t say too much about why any of my characters go there without giving away spoilers. Suffice to say, after some unpleasant people get up to even less pleasant things, even they might need admin to take the edge off, so this is where they end up. Don’t be put off though, the real clientele are harmless.
Edgware Road – My main character, Jake Porter, and his partner, Nick Styles, are based out of Paddington Green station, just off Edgware road. It starts by Marble Arch, a stones throw away from Hyde Park and run for nearly 10 miles, past other iconic venues like Lord Cricket Ground, and a few streets away from Abbey Road Studios.