Henry Sutton (novelist)

Sutton was born in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk, to writer Belinda Brett and furniture maker Toby Sutton.

In 1983, Sutton began a career in journalism with Eastern Counties Newspapers as a feature writer and reporter. In 1987, he joined Haymarket Publishing as desk editor, and by 1991 he was working at The European where he performed a number of roles: travel editor, deputy arts editor, feature writer. He has served as Books Editor at the Daily Mirror, and as Literary Editor at Esquire magazine UK.[3]

By 2008, Sutton was appointed as an Associate Creative Writing Tutor at the UEA, and in 2011, he was made a Senior Lecturer.[1] He is also the director of the new Creative Writing MA Crime Fiction at UEA,[4] and the founder of the Noirwich Crime Writing Festival.[5]

In 2009, he was writer-in-residence at the university's British Centre of Literary Translation.[1]

Sutton's first published work was Gorleston (1995), a novel about pensioner Percy Lanchester, a pensioner, struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife. Percy's life is turned upside down when he meets a notorious widow named Queenie. The Independent said this debut "pulls off the stunning feat of humanizing an out-of-season seaside resort".[6]

His second novel, Bank Holiday Monday (1997) was also set in Norfolk, in a rented windmill on the coast where five adults and a child gather to spend the long weekend. The Guardian has said the tale "should be required reading for any middle-class couples considering renting a holiday home in Norfolk this summer".[7]

The Househunter (1999) was described as "gloriously original" and "unashamedly honest"[8] by British author and critic Julie Myerson.

Flying (2001) focuses on seven characters crewing an airliner on a long-haul return flight between London and New York, and the repercussions of a wild crew party in the down route hotel. Writing in The Guardian, he said he decided to set the novel on a plane, "thinking that an object capable of inspiring such powerful feelings in me would provide great source material".[9]

Sutton's protagonist in Kids' Stuff (2005), his fifth book, is Mark – a practical man who is reunited with a long lost daughter, and is set in Norwich.

His next book, First Frost (2011) was a collaborative effort with James Gurbutt. They co-authored the novel, which is set in Denton, Greater Manchester, in 1981, and illuminates Detective Sergeant Jack Frost's backstory. Actor David Jason, who played Jack Frost (detective) in A Touch of Frost, "not only a gripping mystery, but an exclusive look at Jack Frost's early years."[10]

His eighth novel, Get Me Out of Here (2011), was a work of crime fiction. The title is a play on the name for the reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! At the centre of the story is paranoid ex-City worker Matt Freeman, a frustrated, unreliable narrator, prone to violent outbursts and ranting.

Sutton's eighth novel, My Criminal World (2013),[11] is a meta-fictional story about struggling crime writer, David Slavitt. It has been hailed by fellow writers[12] in the genre including Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham.[13]

His latest work, Time to Win,[14] will be released on 27 April 2017 and is written under the pseudonym Harry Brett. It is the first of a noir series set in Norfolk, and is published by Little, Brown Book Group.

Henry Sutton is married to the literary academic, Professor Rachel Potter.[15] They have two children, Thomas and Stella. He has another daughter, Holly, from a previous relationship.

• Time to Win – (Little, Brown)
• My Criminal World – 2013 (Harvill Secker, Vintage)
• Get Me Out of Here – 2011 (Harvill Secker, Vintage, Europa Editions)
• Thong Nation – 2006 (Serpent's Tail)
• First Frost −2011 (under penname James Henry, with co-author James Gurbutt) (Bantam, Corgi)
• Kids' Stuff – 2005 (Serpent's Tail)
• Flying – 2001 (Sceptre)
• The Househunter – 1999 (Sceptre)
• Bank Holiday Monday – 1997 (Sceptre)
• Gorleston −1995 (Sceptre)

• Henry Sutton official Web site