Join me on Saturday at 2pm for more Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM. This week, my guest will be the fab Jamie West.

Since 2006, Jamie has worked backstage on countless shows in London’s West End. The history of the buildings that he works in, a love for a good murder mystery and a fascination with “lost” theatres is what has inspired his writing.
Jamie took the first steps into the world of storytelling during his time at Braintree College, in Essex, where he would write short plays and eventually a full-scale musical for the other students on his performing arts course.

He went to The Guildhall School of Music and Drama with ambitions to become a lighting designer. However, upon graduating, he stumbled into the world of automation — the department that’s responsible for operating and maintaining the equipment that controls the motorised scenery you see moving around during a production. This is where he stayed for over 15 years! During that time he’s been able to work on a huge variety of productions and able to open some incredible ones like The Book of Mormon, Miss Saigon, Kinky Boots, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and his most recent job: Dear Evan Hansen. Now, he splits his time between working on shows and his writing.

Jamie’s debut murder mystery novel, Death on the Pier, came out in October 2022. This book introduces murder mystery playwright, Bertie Carroll, and his old school friend, Hugh Chapman – who conveniently happens to be a police detective. This first instalment in the series is set in 1930s Brighton and the “lost” Palace Pier Theatre was recreated as the setting. The theatre was demolished in the 1980s – a tragic loss as it was described as “the finest surviving example of a theatre at the end of a pier”. For the second book, Bertie returns to the West End where the action moves to the Gaiety Theatre, which used to be situated in The Strand.

I’ll be talking to Jamie about Death on the Pier, and his work and writing in general. And, of course, he’ll be sharing his selections for this week’s Apocalypse Books.

Catch the show on Saturday at 2pm on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield).