- Matthew Hall (writer)
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Matthew Hall (born 1 May 1967) is a screenwriter and novelist. He is sometimes credited as M.R. Hall.
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Education
Hall was educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Worcester College, Oxford (1985–88) where he graduated in law. He was called to the Bar in 1990 and practised as a barrister at 5, King's Bench Walk before becoming a full time writer in 1995.
Screenwriting career
He began his television career writing episodes of Kavanagh QC. In 1996/7 he created and wrote the legal series Wing and a Prayer which ran for two seasons and was the first drama production aired by the newly formed Channel 5. The series was nominated for a BAFTA in the best TV series category in 1997.
Hall's other screen credits include episodes of BBC1's Dalziel and Pascoe, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Life Support and Holby City. ITV credits include episodes of A&E, Foyle's War, Blue Murder and the 2003 single film Loving You. He was the co-creator and lead writer of the BBC1 series New Street Law which aired in 2006/7.
Together with the screenwriter and novelist GF Newman he founded the production company One Eyed Dog, most notable for producing Judge John Deed for BBC1.
Novels
Hall's first novel, The Coroner, was published by PanMacmillan in 2009. His second novel, The Disappeared, was published in January 2010 in the UK and in December 2009 in the USA. The Coroner was shortlisted for the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger awarded to the best crime novel of 2009. His third novel, The Redeemed, is published by PanMacmillan in April 2011.
Jenny Cooper Novels
The Coroner
I’m a Coroner. I spend my life laying things to rest . . .
When lawyer, Jenny Cooper, is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died? What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity.
The Disappeared
When two young British students, Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan vanish without a trace.
The police tell their parents that the boys had been under surveillance, that it was likely they left the country to pursue their dangerous new ideals. Seven years later, Nazim’s grief-stricken mother is still unconvinced. Jenny Cooper is her last hope. Jenny is finally beginning to settle into her role as Coroner for the Severn Vale; the ghosts of her past that threatened to topple her, banished to the sidelines once more. But as the inquest into Nazim's disappearance gets underway, the stink of corruption and conspiracy intensifies. . . As the pressure from above increases, a code of silence is imposed on the inquest and events begin to spiral out of all control, pushing Jenny to breaking point. For how could she have known that by unravelling the mysteries of the disappeared, she would begin to unearth her own buried secrets?
The Redeemed
Coroner Jenny Cooper doesn’t just have an accusation of murder hanging over her head. . .
The discovery of a dead man lying outside a Bristol church with a sign of the cross gouged into his flesh looks to her like another grisly, routine suicide. But the unexpected arrival of an enigmatic Jesuit priest reveals deeper levels of mystery. Father Lucas Starr is protesting the innocence of a convicted prisoner who made a doubtful confession to the murder of Eva Donaldson, a former adult-movie actress turned world-renowned anti-pornography campaigner. Persuaded by him to look at Eva’s death afresh, Jenny uncovers a sinister series of connections between her killing and the body at the church. As her investigation links to yet another tragic death, Jenny’s suspicions turn towards a powerful new global phenomenon: the politically ambitious and intoxicatingly charismatic Mission Church of God. Answering to no one but the dead, Jenny’s lone quest for justice takes her to the heart of the fight between good and evil, sex and the supernatural, and on a dark inner journey to confront ghosts that have haunted her for a lifetime.
External links
Categories:- 1967 births
- Living people
- British screenwriters
- British novelists
- Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
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