Mark, the main protagonist of your popular detective series is Frank Merlin, a Scotland Yard detective in WW2 London. Can you tell us about him?

Of course. Frank Merlin is a man in his early 40s as the series starts. He holds the rank of Detective Chief Inspector and heads a Scotland Yard serious crimes unit. Merlin is a courageous, deep-thinking and insightful investigator of crimes working with a close-knit supportive team. The son of an English mother and Spanish father, there are elements of both nationalities in his character and temperament. He fought in World War 1 and, as the series begins, would like to join up for World War 2 but is too important to the Yard to be released. As to his personal status in 1940, he is a widower who misses his recently deceased wife very much. A man who enjoys a drink, he is strangely addicted to Fisherman’s Friend menthol lozenges.

The Embassy Murders starts your series off at the American Embassy. One Grosvenor Square was a crucial location when the British Empire stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1939. How important are the political considerations in the plot?

Very. The story takes place in early 1940 during what became known as ‘The Phoney War’ when Britain was yet to be involved in any significant military action and life on the Home Front was relatively calm. The principal political argument of the time concerned the issue of appeasement. Should Britain do its best to come to some accommodation with Hitler and thus preserve the peace, or fight him to the death? This debate figures significantly in The Embassy Murders.

Ambassador Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK & RFK) is a character in the novel. What was his reputation in wartime London?

Joe Kennedy was a great proponent of appeasement. He thought Britain didn’t have a hope against Germany and should concede whatever was necessary to Hitler to avoid having to fight a war. He spent much of his wartime period as Ambassador away from London for fear of getting caught up in Nazi attacks on the capital. He was naturally loathed by anti-appeasers but admired by the substantial pro-appeasement lobby. He had made a questionable fortune during prohibition and his business reputation in the US was not great. When President Roosevelt appointed Kennedy to head the Securities and Exchange Commission before the war, he is reputed to have justified the appointment with the words ‘It takes a thief to catch a thief’.

Did you base Merlin on any historical characters, or indeed were any fictional detectives helpful?

No to the question regarding historical characters. I was however, no doubt, influenced when creating him by some of the crime authors and fictional detectives I particularly love. Simenon is my favourite crime writer and perhaps there is a little Maigret in Merlin.

How did you plan the plot for The Embassy Murders, and do you work it out as you write, or beforehand?

I never plan my books in detail. I start out with a few vague plot ideas in my head and see where those ideas take me. I always heavily research the specific period about which I’m writing before I start and that research often gives me further plot ideas. To focus the murder story in The Embassy Murders against the background of the appeasement argument seemed natural after researching January 1940.

One assumes that once the war started, the entire population of Britain linked arms and marched in glorious harmony towards final victory, but crime in London was rife wasn’t it?

It was. Many people seem to think that criminals did their bit for King and country by scaling down their criminal activities. Far from it! Reported crime in England and Wales grew by nearly 60 per cent in the war years. The existence of the blackout clearly made things easier for criminals. War rules and regulations introduced in the war years also created many new opportunities for crime. Rationing paved the way for black market profiteering and forgery. Bombing offered looters rich pickings. The influx of massive numbers of soldiers, sailors and airmen, particularly after the U.S. entry into the war in 1942, meant that the vice industry in London and around the country boomed. Criminal gangs run by men like Billy Hill and Jack Spot made hay. Career criminal Mad Frankie Fraser famously berated Hitler for ending the war: ‘The war was a criminal’s paradise. It broke my heart when Hitler surrendered.’

Before becoming a writer you were a successful barrister and entrepreneur. Did you always want to write novels, and what advice do you have for those budding authors out there?

I always wanted to write novels from an early age. I made a few youthful attempts but once I’d left university and was working full time I couldn’t keep it up. I began to write in earnest when in the early 2000s I sold a computer company I’d founded and found myself with some free time. Advice? There is hardly a writer around who has not faced multiple rejections. To have a chance of success you’ve got to believe in yourself and in Churchill’s famous words ‘Keep buggering on.”

Does one have to read the Merlin series in order?

No. I try to write every Merlin book as a standalone so readers can start wherever they like. Some however inevitably prefer to begin at the beginning.

Your sixth book, Death Of An Officer, came out recently and was very well-received. Will we see a Frank Merlin 7?

Yes, I have started working on a new Merlin. It is set in February 1944. As always when I start to research a new wartime period I discover interesting new things. In this instance, I was aware of the arrival of the German doodlebugs in the summer of 1944 but I did not know that earlier in the year there was a concentrated conventional Luftwaffe bombing campaign on London running from January to May. This became known as the ‘Little Blitz’ or ‘Baby Blitz’. I have written 20,000 words of the first draft. So far a Frenchman has been killed in a drive-by shooting and and the pregnant wife of a War Office civil servant has been strangled. What happens next? Who knows?

There has been talk of a Merlin film or TV series. Can you say a few words about that?

Yes. I can say that a script for the first episode of a potential TV version of The Embassy Murders has been written and some encouraging industry conversations have taken place. Many people have said Merlin would be ideal for the screen. We shall see what happens.

Mark Ellis is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur. He is the author of The Embassy Murders.