Richard Hernaman Allen

I went to school in Loughborough and university at Oxford

I loved history, writing, music and football

I became a Civil Servant, working mostly in Customs & Excise

I got married to Vanessa shortly after leaving university. We have two daughters, Jo and Kat, and two grandsons, Josh and Jasper

I started "Through Fire" in 1976 and finished it 30 years later, following it up wirth several further books

By accident, I discovered that I liked writing detective stories, setting most in Customs & Excise; more recently in the mid-17th century

I still love history and music, but I've swapped football for trail running and badminton

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