Former barrister discusses his life in crime covering murder cases at Sandy Library event

A popular crime writer is bringing his one-man show to a literary event at Sandy Library next week.

On Tuesday (20 June), former barrister turned novelist, Simon Michael, will give a talk titled, ‘My Life in Crime’.

Simon’s chat will cover everything from his life, career, family history, and transition to writing full-time.

Simon practised as a barrister for 37 years, working at the Old Bailey and other criminal courts, defending and prosecuting a wide selection of murderers, armed robbers, con artists and other assorted villainy, gathering enough real life stories to populate an entire series of crime fiction.

His eight-book legal thriller series feature anti-hero barrister, Charles Holborne, an East End villain made good, battling the prejudices of the 1960s, the Kray twins and the corrupt Metropolitan Police. They draw from the headlines of the day, the criminal cases in which Simon was instructed and his own family history.

He has also written two screenplays and in other genres, romantic fiction, and speculative fiction.

Simon can discuss what it is like to share a bacon sandwich with a convicted murderer in the Old Bailey cells; to wear a 200 year-old horsehair wig, and what it is like to do battle with corrupt gang members.

Ticketing information can be found on the library’s website here. More information on Simon’s Charles Holborne series of books can be found online here.

He has previously been referred to as “the British John Grisham” and some of Simon’s writing could be developed for television in the coming years.

Leigh Russell, whose Geraldine Steel crime novels have sold millions of copies said of one of Simon’s books: “A brilliant “moral maze” skilfully woven into a gripping and credible thriller narrative.”

One of the show’s highlights is likely to be Simon’s own fascinating family history. Refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, the Michael family arrived in the Port of London in 1492 and remained in the East End for the next 450 years. Simon believes himself to be the only member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple formerly to have been a council labourer, a van driver and a gardener.