Sheffield teacher publishes new crime novel inspired by real-world wartime mysteries and local history
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Inspired by real mysteries and decades in Sheffield’s classrooms, David James Buckley’s latest novel follows a detective’s journey through post-war secrets and personal upheaval.
The mysterious disappearance of a Yorkshire priest, the wartime history of Doncaster Racecourse, and disturbing secrets from Britain's Second World War interrogation centres have inspired Surviving Angel, a chilling new historical crime novel by Sheffield author David James Buckley.
The Totley-based writer, who spent decades teaching English in the city's schools and colleges, has published his second novel, following a Yorkshire detective whose investigation into a double murder uncovers a nationwide mystery involving wartime secrets and a growing threat to his own family.
The author's connection to Sheffield stretches back nearly five decades, having moved to the city in 1979 and made his home in areas including Banner Cross, Ecclesall and Totley, where he now lives. He spent much of his professional life teaching English in Sheffield, beginning at Tapton School in 1979, becoming Head of English in 1987 and continuing to teach there until 1995.
His teaching career also included King Ecgbert School and Waltheof School, while he also lectured in English at The Sheffield College's Norton and Peaks campuses. Alongside his work in education, Buckley established himself as a freelance journalist and reviewer.
Buckley's journey into novel-writing began after he retired from teaching, when he enrolled on a part-time MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University in 2009, aged 60. Having spent decades working to a timetable, he wanted to give his retirement a new sense of purpose while pursuing an ambition he had held for years, later graduating with distinction in 2014, aged 65. His first novel, Stone and Water, introduced Jim Bible in a story set in 1956, while the publication of Surviving Angel marks another milestone in a writing career that began in earnest later in life.
He said: “What interested me about setting the story in 1958 was that the war had ended, but its consequences were still part of everyday life. People were beginning to look towards a different future, yet there were experiences from the war that hadn't necessarily been spoken about or properly understood. I wanted to explore what might happen when a detective who believes strongly in doing the right thing finds himself confronting a past that others would prefer to leave undisturbed.
“Jim Bible isn't a glamorous detective who ignores the rules and drinks his way through every investigation. He's a fairly conventional man trying to do his job conscientiously, and I think that makes the situations he encounters all the more interesting. His family matters enormously to him, but he doesn't always understand the changing attitudes of his wife and son, and those tensions become increasingly important as the investigation develops."