Jeffery Deaver may set new Lincoln Rhyme thriller in Birmingham UK

Aug 1 2010 by Edward Chadwick, Sunday Mercury

“Maybe bringing such a gruesome crime over here is a strange way for me to show my affection for Birmingham, but I meant it in the nicest possible way,” he added.

“I just like the people here. They seem even friendlier than in other parts of the UK, and I love the architecture here.”

As a result, Deaver says he would consider setting a whole novel in the Midlands, and bring Lincoln Rhyme to the region.

“I’m always on the lookout for new ideas,” he said. “It would be nice to do that, and who knows in the future.

“But it won’t happen for a few years yet because I’ve got commitments with work until 2013.”

He has also name-checked West Bromwich in the Rhyme books, after making a number of visits to do readings at the Black Country town’s library.

The author was in Birmingham to promote the latest Rhyme thriller, The Burning Wire, and also talked about the news that he has just been hired to write the next official James Bond book.

Deaver has been asked by the estate of 007 author Ian Fleming to take on the mantle.

“I fell in love with Bond when I was just a boy and I was hugely honoured to be asked to continue the legacy,” he said. “It’s a bit of a dream come true for me.”

The book, secretively titled Project X for now, will be published next May and will feature Bond as a young war hero returning from Afghanistan.