Raymond Nickford

Raymond Nickford has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University College of North Wales and has been a college lecturer in English Literature. Troubled souls; the outsider, the lonely, his inspiration.

Author website:

raymondnickford-psychologicalsuspense.weebly.com

Meet-the-Author interview:

https://susansbooks37.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/meet-the-author-raymond-nickford/

Raymond's work has been influenced in part by film producer Alfred Hitchcock, as well as authors Ian McEwan and - especially - Daphne du Maurier, whose mastery of mystery and suspense first sparked his interest in fiction with her "Rebecca".

Of his novel based in Cyprus, ARISTO'S FAMILY, Barbara Erskine, Sunday Times best selling author of The Darkest Hour, has commented on the "... beautifully observed characters, intriguing and atmospheric scenes and, above all, the suspense which made me want to read on".

Raymond believes his teaching of English in colleges and as a private tutor has informed his new suspense A CHILD FROM THE WISHING WELL:

This features an eerie music tutor, her young pupil Rosie and Rosie's paranoid and inept father, Gerard, who yearns to fight his mental illness to reach out to his lonely daughter.

The book was shortlisted for the Harper Collins Gold Star Award, May 2010.

REVIEWS

"Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, the first scary movie I remember seeing was the 1965 Bette Davis movie, The Nanny. To this day, that movie has always stuck with me as one of the great psychological thrillers of all time. For me, A Child from the Wishing Well, is reminiscent of that movie" -

Candace Bowen Early - author of A Knight of Silence

"The story is both enjoyable and oddly chilling, all the more so for its apparent warmth. The pleasantness of Ruth and her liveliness should seem gentle, grandmotherly and appealing, a sweet old lady one could adore, what seems kindly suddenly turns sinister, her upbeat excitability oddly macabre, her voice... a bird screeching... fingers down a blackboard" -

Raven Clarke - author of The Shadowsword Saga

"The author gives great voice to his characters, describing well their idiosyncrasies. A good story must either go deep or wide, and with Nickford's background in psychology he goes deep within the human condition. For some adults, the ability to relate to a child does not come naturally, and requires enormous if not awkward effort. This is an often overlooked subject worth exploring" -

Stephen Valentine - author of Nobody Rides for Free

"A beautifully constructed scenario emerged. The attic scene vividly describes the significance of the doll in the depth of the well. All the mystery and menace of the story coalesces here. I was taken back years to the 1960s when I read a story by Saki entitled The Lumber Room. Mystery and menace are purely distilled in a distinctive writing style" -

Tony Brady - author of Scenes from an Examined Life

"Full of dark shadings and menace. I like the tenderness of the father's feelings" -

A. R. Taylor - author of Sex, Rain, and Cold Fusion

ARISTO'S FAMILY : Set on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, an eerie and poignant story about a boy's need to belong while his archaeologist father is too preoccupied with his obsession to search for a family who, Aristo was told, had been burnt beyond recognition in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Father and son... or strangers forever ?

TWISTS IN THE TALE : Eerie stories of the troubled, the lonely, but places where clouds can, ultimately, have a silver lining.

Raymond says he is moved by the music and life of the composer Edward Elgar, his interest leading him each year to a cottage in the Malvern Hills and to the Three Choirs Festival.

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.nickford25

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/RNickford