I want to help put Sunderland on the map says Horrible Histories author Terry Deary after penning murder mystery set in city in 1973

Sunderland born Terry was inspired to write Actually I’m a Murderer following a train journey he made way back in 1972.

He said: “I left Sunderland back in 1972 to live in Cardiff and I was travelling on a train to London for a night out.

“There were four of us in the carriage and we got chatting. Someone asked me what I did and I said I was an actor. When I got home the conversation got me thinking, what if someone had replied ‘actually I’m a murderer’?”

The story is told through the eyes of three characters, an actor, a police officer, and a murderer.

Inspired by Terry’s own train journey, the lives of four people are thrown into turmoil when sharing a carriage with an unremarkable little man with round glasses, on the night train back to Newcastle. By the end of the following day, one of them is dead, one becomes a blackmailer, and another forced to commit a crime.

Terry said: “The majority of the book is set in Sunderland, which is my home city. Sunderland doesn’t appear in many fiction books and putting Sunderland on the map is important to me.

“The pits and shipyards of 1970s Sunderland set the landscape in which the story is set. If you’re from Sunderland or the North East then a lot of the pubs and hotels in the story will be recognised by people.

“There’s also some reference to the games in Sunderland’s cup run.”

As with all his books, Terry undertook significant research to ensure the book represented an accurate reflection of life at the time.

He said: “I spoke with police officers who served in the North East during the 1970s and the book covers many of the prejudices they experienced.”

It’s Terry’s first foray into the genre of adult fiction, but as an avid murder mystery reader himself, ‘Actually I’m a Murderer’ was an obvious choice.

He said: “I’ve spent all my life as an author writing children’s books and history themed books, but murder mysteries are actually all I ever read and so I’ve always wanted to do one of my own.

“I’m delighted with the book and the sequel is already with my publisher. My last book (‘A History of Britain in Ten Enemies’) went to number one in the Sunday Times Best Sellers book list and hopefully this book will do similar.

“It’s good for a Mackem to get to number one.”

Actually I’m a Murderer was officially published this week (Thursday June 12) and is available online from Amazon and from all good book stores, including Waterstones.

On Friday July 4 at 6pm, Terry will be returning to his old school Monkwearmouth Academy alongside fellow alumni Jeff Brown to discuss his new book.

The book retails for £18.99 and further details about the launch event at Monkwearmouth Academy can be found by contacting the school.

During his successful career Terry has sold 38 million books in 45 different languages across the globe.