A SULLY crime fiction author is hoping his latest book ‘Noose’ proves to be another page turner.

Former journalist Jim Tucker, writing under the pen name Bill James, has written more than 60 books during his literary career.

Bill, who has previously written for the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times, said that his latest book was semi-autobiographical with some parts of his own life interwoven into the storyline.

“It tends to have autobiographical bits of it, such as parts set around Penarth Pier and the war between paddle steamers to get customers aboard and the races that used to take place between them,” he said.

“One of the main incidents in the book is an accident from when one of those races goes wrong.”

Bill has written a series of crime fiction novels that focus on two detectives, Harpur and Iles, but his latest novel is a standalone book up to the time of the Suez crisis in 1958.

Bill, 84, added that there were also other parts of the book based on his childhood in the 1940’s: “It sort of peers into the past.

“I grew up in Grangetown and there’s a section in the book where me, my brother and my mother had to hide in an air raid shelter during one of the bombings.

“It’s one of the first times I have used my life in a book as most of my other work is entirely fictional.”

Bill wrote his first book in the 1960’s when he was still working as a journalist and now takes about six months to write each book.

One of his books, Tip Top, has recently been made into a film in France, while one of his most successful books, ‘Whose little girl are you?’, was also made into a film in Britain.

“It starred Edward Fox and Stacy Keach and was released under the name ‘The Squeeze’,” he said.

One of his Harpur and Iles novels, ‘Protection’, was also made into a film for BBC Wales

“I was hoping they would make a series of it but it didn’t happen,” he said.

‘Noose’ by Bill James is available to buy from Amazon.