Derbyshire has produced successful writers in many genres over the years. Now another one can be added to the list: a crime fiction author described as “the current master of the locked-room mystery”, Tom Mead.

The locked-room mystery usually features a murder committed in what appear to be impossible circumstances: it’s inexplicable how the killer entered a room, committed the crime and left undetected.

Tom who was born and raised in Mickleover has three books to his name, with a fourth to be released next year. He does a lot of his writing in Mickleover library and met me there to tell me how he always wanted to become a published author, why he chose locked-room mysteries and the unorthodox way his work got into print.

His third novel, Cabaret Macabre, is out in hardback. Just like his previous two books, it features Joseph Spector, a retired music-hall magician and eccentric detective who is called in by Scotland Yard to solve baffling cases. It’s set in 1930s London.

Tom explained how he sees Joseph Spector: “He’s a flamboyant, theatrical character. In terms of his physical description, he’s very much a Hammer Horror-esque creation, so I always envisage him as a crossover between Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, the two great Hammer Horror stars.

“Spector is someone with the physical presence of Christopher Lee, someone who has that kind of gravitas but with the softspokenness and the pale blue eyes of Peter Cushing.

“He dresses in the style of the 1890s. A showman, he favours flowing cloaks and a silver-topped cane. In terms of real-life counterparts, I love stage magic and I’m particularly interested in magicians of the Victorian era when many famous illusions were being developed – people like Harry Houdini who cultivated a larger-than-life stage persona which outlived his performances. To me that was the perfect recipe for a Golden Age-style detective.”

The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder-mystery novels, predominantly in the 1920s and 1930s.

Tom grew up with books by Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and American authors from the Golden Age including John Dickson Carr and Ellery Queen.

“Agatha Christie was my introduction to crime fiction and to reading generally. What always struck me was the brilliance of her plots. They were a deceptively simple construction where you had clues hidden in plain sight.

“Another couple of things I particularly enjoyed when I was growing up were Jonathan Creek, the BBC comedy-drama show that had great Golden Age-style mystery plots, clever solutions to the mysteries and they were set in the world of stage magic which I’ve always found interesting.

“These were the things that led me towards the path of crime fiction, particularly so-called impossible crime and locked-room mysteries.”

“The other show that I grew up watching was Breaking The Magician’s Code, a TV programme where a magician would perform famous illusions like sawing a woman in half. You would see the same performance again but with a shift in focus so that you could see how the trick worked. That was much more interesting than the tricks themselves.

“These were the things that led me towards the path of crime fiction, particularly so-called impossible crime and locked-room mysteries.”

Tom studied English and creative writing at the University of Derby and it was always at the back of his mind that he wanted to write professionally. After completing a master’s degree he worked at the university in a few different roles and also had a part-time job at Derby College.

He began writing short stories and some of them appeared in print. Joseph Spector pops up in a number of them.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Tom found he had more time on his hands “so I thought I might as well make the most of this difficult period by trying to put together something more substantial.”

The result was his first book, Death And The Conjuror: “I wrote it very quickly in draft and then I immediately thought ‘why not start work on the next one?’ By the end of 2020 I more or less had The Murder Wheel in draft as well. They needed a lot of work doing on them but they were written mainly for myself as entertainment.”

Tom was then approached by Otto Penzler who runs the New York publishers Mysterious Press. He was putting together the inaugural edition of an anthology, The Best Mystery Stories Of The Year, with thriller writer Lee Child helping him to choose which ones would be published. Tom’s story Heatwave was selected.

“Because I know Otto loves locked-room mysteries, I thought I’d chance my arm and send him an email (about the two books) and see what he has to say, not realistically thinking I would get anything other than perhaps some feedback. He agreed to let me send him the manuscript of Death And The Conjuror. That’s how he came to offer me a contract for the first two books.”

Both are set in theatreland in the West End. “As a theatre lover, that’s a great joy for me to explore and dive into, all the ghost stories and superstitions surrounding the great theatres of London.”

A UK publisher, Head of Zeus, bought the rights from Mysterious Press. “It was an unorthodox situation of having the books out in the US first and then being sold back to the UK. That’s how I ended up purely by serendipity being in the right place at the right time.”

After his first two books were published, Tom set about finding himself an agent. That led to his securing a second two-book contract for Cabaret Macabre and his next tome which will be published next year.

Death And The Conjuror has been translated into about ten languages. “That really blew my mind,” said Tom who was delighted when it became available in Japanese.

“There’s a real market for this kind of thing in Japan. They bought the rights for the book before it was out in the US!”

“It’s a very surreal experience. It still feels only five minutes ago that I was putting together the first book. Since then it’s really gathered pace and snowballed.”

Subsequently editions of Death And The Conjuror were made available in countries including Italy, Russia, China, Taiwan and Spain. “It’s gathering momentum and finding its place all over the world which is of course very satisfying.”

Tom’s agent has sold the rights to the Spector mystery series to a television company. “I’m quite superstitious about these things so I don’t talk about them too much for fear of jinxing things. But I’ve been warned these things take a very long time.”

Tom laughed when I asked him if he could believe everything that had happened in the past few years.

“It’s a very surreal experience. It still feels only five minutes ago that I was putting together the first book. Since then it’s really gathered pace and snowballed.

“I’ve been very fortunate to develop a loyal readership. I get a lot of lively correspondence from readers in the US and the UK of course. I do a lot of in-person events at libraries, independent bookshops and book festivals.

“In terms of the speed with which everything has happened, it’s completely bowled me over. I try to keep my expectations low to avoid disappointment.”

As well as editing his fourth book, Tom is working on something completely different, a crime novel that’s not part of the Spector series.

“I’ve not yet decided what I’m going to do with it because it’s still early days. Hopefully by some time next year I’ll have an idea about what’s going to happen with that as well.”

Tom is 31 and lives on his own in Mickleover. Writing is his passion: “I’m determined to write as much as I can while I’ve got the energy and stamina to keep up this level of output.”

He has his advice for aspiring authors: “The best thing is to write something that you would pick up off a shelf and read yourself. There’s no point trying to write for a market because markets are very unreliable and very fickle.

“If you write something that to you is good, entertaining and interests you, eventually it will find its market. Locked-room mysteries are quite a niche sub-genre but along with the Golden Age generally have been enjoying a renaissance recently. I’ve been able to tap into that readership.

“The lesson I’ve learned is to stick with what you’re doing and eventually it will roll around again.”

Having read Death And The Conjuror, I can see there’s no mystery about why Tom Mead has become sought after in the publishing world. He is amiable and approachable as well as talented; there’s no trace of trickery. It’s a formula that should see his success story continue.

* This article originally appeared in Country Images magazine