Background

Simon Shaw was born on August 19, 1956, in the United Kingdom.

Education

Simon Shaw attended Cambridge University. He graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career

Simon Shaw worked as an actor since 1979. He played in several plays of the London West End. He also participated in experimental theater productions and in several TV shows.

Shaw resumed his acting career after the publication of his first novel, Murder Out of Tune, in 1988. An actor himself, Simon Shaw uses his knowledge of the world of English theater to create the satirical mysteries that are both dark and funny. With Murder out of Tune Shaw introduced his amoral, egoistic protagonist Philip Fletcher, an aging actor who is given to rage when cast in smallish parts that he considers unworthy of his talents. In this first novel, Fletcher’s venom turns murderous, and to his surprise, the deed goes unpunished and ends up benefiting his career. Fletcher proceeds to kill off a few other enemies and manages to cover it up. Shaw makes the despicable Fletcher likable, while he pokes fun at the conceit of actors. Gerald Kaufman commented in the Listener that the novel was “so funny as to make entrancing reading” and T. J. Binyon noted in Times Literary Supplement that Shaw’s characters were “almost appalling enough to be real.” Writing in the Spectator, Harriet Waugh found that “Shaw never loses sight of the all-importance of plotting and tension.” Since then he has concentrated mostly on writing and journalism.

Simon Shaw lives in London and is now an assistant editor of The Week and is a regular book reviewer for The Mail on Sunday, a right-wing conservative newspaper.

Achievements

• Simon Shaw managed to achieve recognition as a writer. His books are usually positively received by critics and readers. He is praised for the vivid presentation of his characters and darkish and a sophisticated sense of humor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Frontier House

    (A companion volume to the new PBS series Frontier House o...)

    2005
  • The Company of Knaves

    (Furious that a hated rival is up for knighthood in the Ne...)

    1996
  • Killer Cinderella

    (Driven to near madness by his shrewish and blatantly unfa...)

    1990
  • Selling Grace

    (Killer blonde PI Grace Cornish returns in the follow-up t...)

    2001
  • Murder Out of Tune

    (Superintendent Turnbull investigates the baffling murders...)

    1988
  • Dead for a Ducat

    (Philip Fletcher, the well-known actor, and murderer, has ...)

    1992
  • Bloody Instructions 1991
  • The Villain of the Earth 1991
  • Act of Darkness 1997
  • Killing Grace 2000

Connections

There is no information on whether Simon Shaw is married or has any children.

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 166 This volume of Contemporary Authors contains biographical information on approximately 300 modern writers.
  1998