Shadow of Fear

ROBERT JAMES (R J) MITCHELL was brought up in Stirling and from an early age developed a keen interest in history, especially medieval history. He graduated from Glasgow University with MA Honours in British, European and Scottish Medieval History and joined Strathclyde Police 1989.Mitchell was initially detailed beat duties out of the former Blackhill Police Office and then Baird Street Police Office in the former `D' Division, and still cherishes his first set of shoulder numerals which were D325. A keen squash player, Mitchell captained the West of Scotland squash team and has played competitively at national level. After 12 years of service RJ decided to concentrate on full time writing and so resigned from Strathclyde Police. He had already started to enjoy an increasingly successful career as a freelance sports journalist under the name of Bob James, and his coups included exclusive interviews with boxers Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis. It was while recovering from an appendicitis that RJ decided to write his first book Parallel Lines: The Glasgow Supremacy, a crime thriller set in Glasgow, and which drew heavily on his own police experiences. His second book - The Hurting: The Glasgow Terror - followed in 2012, and which was nominated for The People's Book Prize. In November 2013 The Longest Shadow, the third book in the DS Thoroughgood series, was published to critical acclaim and RJ Mitchell's fourth book - The Shift - was runner-up in the final of the 2017 People's Book Prize.