Simon Beckett (born 20 April 1960) is a Britishjournalist andauthor. His books, in particular the crime series around forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter, have sold 21 million copies worldwide, and have had particular success in Germany and Scandinavia.

Simon Beckett was born on 20 April 1960 inSheffield, England, to a working-class background.^[1] After earning aMaster of Arts degree in English, Beckett taught in Spain and played in several bands before becoming a freelance journalist.^[2] He has written forThe Times,The Independent on Sunday,The Daily Telegraph andThe Observer, amongst others. He wrote several novels, includingFine Lines in 1994, before publishing the first novel in the David Hunter series,The Chemistry of Death, in 2006. Acrime novel centred on a forensic anthropologist, Dr David Hunter, as theprotagonist,The Chemistry of Death was shortlisted for the 2006Gold Dagger award.^[3] Sequel novels featuring David Hunter have been released in August 2007 (Written in Bone), January 2009 (Whispers of the Dead), 2010 (The Calling of the Grave) and 2017 (The Restless Dead). The series has sold several million copies worldwide and is particularly popular in Germany andScandinavia.^[2][4][5]

The books and protagonist were inspired when Beckett visited theUniversity of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility (thebody farm founded by forensic anthropology pioneerDr Bill Bass) in 2002, doing research for an article for theDaily Telegraph. Having watched—and participated in—"live" exercises involving manufactured crime scenes containing real decaying corpses, and having witnessed the sciences employed to ascertain how, when and where death occurred, Beckett was inspired to create a central character who is, in his own words, "vulnerable" and "very human", while authoritative and knowledgeable regarding forensic anthropology.^[1][2]

Simon Beckett is married and currently lives in Sheffield.^[2]

Beckett's novels are very popular inEurope; by 2010 he had sold over four million books outside of the United Kingdom and in the same year had outsoldJ K Rowling andIan McEwan inContinental Europe.^[6] In February 2019, he was presented with a Ripper Award (the European Prize from Criminal Literature). He received the award jointly with novelistArne Dahl as they both received the same amount of public vote.^[7]

In March 2020, Trapeze Books announced that Beckett had signed a two-book deal with them to release the newJonah Colley series which revolves around a police officer from theMetropolitan Police in London. The first book, titledThe Lost, was released in July 2021.^[8]

In 2023, a TV series with 6 episodes namedthe chemistry of death was released, starringHarry Treadaway as David Hunter,Ellen Francis, andRosa Whimster, written bySukey Fisher and directed byRichard Clark.

• The Chemistry of Death (2006)
• Written in Bone (2007)
• Whispers of the Dead (2009)
• The Calling of the Grave (2010)
• Cat and Mouse (2013) - ebook
• Snowfall and a Normal Day (2016) - ebook
• The Restless Dead (2017)
• The Scent of Death (2019)^[9]

• The Lost (2021)^[8]

• Fine Lines (1994)
• Animals (1995)
• Where There's Smoke (1997)
• Owning Jacob (1998)
• Stone Bruises(2014)

• Official website (en)
• Interview with Simon Beckett