Rob Falconer was born in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, far too long ago for him to remember the actual date. At present, he is still alive, but he checks the Times obituary every morning to make sure. Having gained a degree in psychology from Cardiff University, he passed his first interview with flying colours and joined the family coach business “for a while” (actually nine years). A history of the company can be found elsewhere on this site.
He later became a computer programmer, before he and his job parted company in 2001. He has since written a number of short stories and won competitions with The Times, International Mensa (he is a member) and the South Wales Echo. He has had a number of children’s poems published in various anthologies :
‘Puzzling Poems to Drive You Crazy’ (Oxford University Press, edited by Susie Gibbs)
‘How to Survive School’ (MacMillan, edited by David Harmer)
‘Read Me Out Loud!’ (Pan MacMillan, edited by Gaby Morgan)
He has also written for comedy shows on both BBC and ITV.
His first book, ‘The Return of Inspector Pirat: His First Book’ (yes, I know, but you’ll understand when you’ve read the book), came about because he often couldn’t sleep, and amused himself by thinking up puzzles, which he then put into print. So, blame insomnia. Many of the stories are based around locations he has visited, such as a gîte in the Loire, on which ‘Truck Stop’ is based (he has difficulty in sleeping abroad too).
He has now written ten subsequent collections of short stories about Detective Inspector John Pratt and his alter ego, Juan Pirat, including the eleventh, ‘Inspector Pratt Goes Up to Eleven,’ published in August 2023.
After eleven books of such detective stories, it seemed time for a change.
A publisher suggested he should write about a detective who works in a real rather than a fictional location, perhaps somewhere local, somewhere he knows well.
So, his latest book contains twenty cases about a private investigator, Merlin Protheroe … and the setting is Penarth, where he lives.
Readers from the area should find plenty of places they recognise in the stories.
The cover features a photograph of Penarth Pier, to some extent because he has been disappointed a few times by finding crime novels with a similar picture on the cover … only to find that the books are about a detective in England! At least the photograph is honest this time.
And there’s now a second Merlin Protheroe book! Unimaginatively titled “More Cases for Merlin Protheroe, P.I.” it was published in September 2024.
These stories involve a lot of thought (and perhaps cunning!). Most of them contain enough plot for a whole novel, but the format fits well (and, hopefully, the reader agrees).
Because of interest in the history of Llanishen village and of Falconer and Watts, ‘Memoirs of a Coach-Operating Man’ was published in February 2018. It includes Rob’s memories of growing up in the village and the history of the company, together with some anecdotes of the highs and lows of running a small semi-rural coach operation.
‘A Brief History of Time Travel,’ a (fictional) collection of short stories about the pioneers in the development of time travel, was published in January 2019.
And a free book, ‘How to Retire Ungracefully,’ was published on Smashwords in April 2019.
‘A Little Bit of Immortality,’ about one man’s hapless attempts to secure a place in history alongside the likes of Brunel, Constable, Dickens and Shakespeare, was published in February 2021.
His interests include pétanque, the cinema (but not necessarily modern cinema), crosswords and problem-solving, history, and reading detective fiction. His favourite detective author is Edmund Crispin, some of whose puzzles are truly ingenious, but laced with plenty of (often literary) humour.
He lives in Penarth, South Wales.
(The caricature is by Joe Heller)