R.J. Mitchell

R.J. Mitchell is a former police officer from Glasgow turned author of crime fiction novels. He draws much of his novels from his experience working in the police service where he served for more than 12 years. He spent more than a decade writing for the Glasgow Evening Times and is currently a freelance sports journalist. As such, he has good understanding and knowledge of the people and city of Glasgow as portrayed in his gritty crime fiction. He grew up in Stirling and went to Riverside Primary school and then Wallace High School. Mitchell started out as a Black Hill Police beat cop then moved to Baird Street in the North before he started dabbling in sports journalism. By 2001 he was enjoying a successful freelance journalist career and interviewed the likes of Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. He decided to resign from the Strathclyde Police and become a full-time sports journalist with Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser. He was working for the Glasgow Evening Times as a sports journalist by 2004 and still writes for them specializing in rugby, boxing and SPL football. In January 2007, he started writing the manuscript for Parallel Lines which was a mystery thriller set in Glasgow that featured his most popular character DS Gus Thoroughgood and his associate DC Kenny Hardie.