Introducing Arthur Wheeler, alumnus, AKA Crime writer A K Adams

We were thrilled to be contacted by Arthur Wheeler, who attended Richmond School in the 1960s and, following a successful career in the healthcare industry, became a crime writer. Arthur has recently published his seventh novel ‘In the dead of night’ and is already penning his eighth! Arthur’s books are available locally at Castle Hill Bookshop, as well as Amazon and Waterstones and you can follow him on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/A.K.AdamsAuthor/

Find out more about Arthur’s progression from Richmond School to published author below:-

I attended Richmond School for one term in 1959, before my father (an Army officer) was posted to Kenya. I took Cambridge Overseas School Certificate O-levels at my secondary school in Nairobi and my top grade was in English Language/Literature. During my time in Kenya, I climbed Kilimanjaro twice and attended the Outward Bound Mountain School in Tanzania. I then returned to Richmond School from January 1963 (a cold winter!) to July 1965 when I studied Physics, Chemistry & Biology at A-level and was captain of first XI cricket team.

I went to West Ham College of Technology in 1965 (now the University of East London) to read Zoology, with Chemistry and Psychology as subsidiary subjects, graduating with a B.Sc. Hons in 1968.

From London I went to the University of Hull to do a P.G.C.E. in Biology and Physical Education and began a teaching career at St. Mary’s School, Darlington in 1969. I left in 1973. Feeling frustrated with teaching, I joined a pharmaceutical company (Parke, Davis & Co.) in a sales role, and then moved into Marketing at their head office in Pontypool, South Wales.

I spent the next 38 years in the healthcare industry (Sales & Marketing roles) working for four different companies that manufactured items such as wound care dressings, incontinence management products, an ostomy range, and equipment (hospital beds) for managing pressure sores. These were supplied into the NHS.

After retiring, I began my first novel (An Unknown Paradise) in the Spring of 2012, written under my pen name of A. K. Adams. Since then, I’ve had six more published and all are ‘stand-alone’ plots. The genre is ‘crime thriller.’ I chose this genre because I’d enjoyed reading authors such as James Patterson, Peter James and Jeffrey Deaver and welcomed the challenge of creating the anticipation of ‘what happened next?’ for my readers. All are available online and through bookshops. I usually place some into Castle Hill Bookshop, Richmond, on a ‘sale or return’ basis. My ideas for the novels tend to come from comments made by friends as in “you’ll never guess what happened to me today . . . “or, from a newspaper or online news item, and then I let my imagination begin to take over. My seventh novel (In the Dead of Night) has just been published, and I’m three quarters into my eighth novel now.

I’ve had most of my books reviewed in The Northern Echo, and given talks to various groups such as the W.I., the Rotary Club, and The Yorkshire Country Women’s Association. As a crime writer, the ‘must go to’ event is the four–day Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival which takes place in Harrogate each July at The Old Swan Hotel where Agatha Christie spent time when she had ‘gone missing’ many years ago. I’ve attended several of these over the past few years (but not 2020!) and met key authors such as Lee Child, Val McDiarmid and Anne Cleeves.

I’m probably not the best person to give advice to aspiring writers or reporters, but if anyone is interested in talking with people, have an enquiring mind, likes getting to the bottom of why something has happened, hitting deadlines and can write, then a career in journalism could be for them!

Arthur Wheeler