Matthew Baylis

Matthew Baylis also writes as M.H. Baylis and Matthew Baylis. He grew up in Southport, Merseyside, the only seaside town that has no sea. It used to have a beach but that, strangely, vanished round about 1994, when Matthew left for London. Questions are still being asked about that. He studied anthropology and intended to become a world authority on cults and messianic movements.

He became a storyliner on ‘EastEnders’ instead. Later, he took the dark arts of cliffhanger-crafting to Kenya and Cambodia. He wrote Cambodia’s first film-noir thriller and is, he thinks, the only Englishman to have ever had a film shown at the Pyongyang Film Festival in North Korea. A London-loving, amateur anthropologist, Matthew has lived in the multi-cultural, history-laden, and much misunderstood borough of Haringey since 2006, and this was the inspiration for the hugely acclaimed Rex Tracey crime novel series.

His non-fiction title, Man Belong Mrs Queen – Adventures With the Philip Worshippers grew out of his love for another part of the world, the South Pacific, and his lifelong affection for the Duke of Edinburgh. He reads everything he can lay his hands on, but favourites include: Hans Fallada, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Anya Lipska, Charles Cumming, Oliver Harris, Emanuel Litvinoff, Louise Millar, John le Carre, Stav Sherez, Colin Thubron, Jeremy Seal, William McIlvaney, Ruth Rendell and the Old Testament. He will try most things twice.