Malcolm Pryce

Author of a series of noir novels about Louie Knight, Aberystwyth's only private eye.

Born:

1960

Place of Birth:

Shrewsbury

School:

Penglais Comprehensive School

"Pryce's book promises to do for the reputation of Aberystwyth what Irvine Welsh has done for Edinburgh" - Andrew Biswell, Daily Telegraph, 16 June 2001 Malcolm Pryce

Biography:

Malcolm Pryce may not have been born in Aberystwyth but his name has become synonymous with the town as author of the Louis Knight series of noir novels.

He was born just across the Welsh border in the town of Shrewsbury in 1960 but moved to Aberystwyth when he was nine years old. He went to Penglais Comprehensive School where he stayed until his A level examinations.

After leaving school, Malcolm took a year out and travelled to Germany, working in a BMW factory as well as washing dishes to pay his way.

He returned to the UK in 1980 to follow a degree course in German at Warwick University and graduated four years later with a First.

His first job as a newly-qualified graduate was as an aluminium salesman in the East Midlands but he soon decided he needed to pursue a different career and decided to become an adverstising copywriter. After knocking on several doors, he finally got work at an agency in London.

In 1993, Malcolm left the world of advertising and went travelling again - this time, to the Far East. He went to Tahiti, Fiji, Thailand and the Philippines before settling down in Singapore and picking up work again as a copywriter.

It was here that he got his first publishing success, penning a children's cartoon book for Singapore Airlines. The idea for his first novel - Aberystwyth Mon Amour - was beginning to germinate around this time and he left his job in 1998 to concentrate on the book.

Much of the novel was written during an inter-rail trip around Europe and a voyage on a banana boat to South America. Set in surreal Aberystwyth, the principal character is Louie Knight - the town's only private eye who gets called in to solve the mystery of Myfanwy Montez' missing cousin. Published by Bloomsbury Press in 1999, the book has drawn comparisons with Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels.

Malcolm returned to the Far East to write his next two novels, 'Last Tango in Aberystwyth' which was published in 2003 and 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth' which hit the bookshops in April 2005. He now lives in Thailand where he's working on a fourth book.

Read an interview with Malcolm Pryce...

your comments

Martin Crawford from Cardiff
I have read the first three novels about that fantastic private eye Louie Knight. Now on the fourth "Don't cry for me Aberystwyth". They really are so funny and I hope that Malcolm Pryce keeps going as he has a great wit about him. Hopefully there will be more about the Aberystwyth series as they are going to be a cult!
Mon Jul 30 08:51:07 2007

Steve Hudson, Cardiff
I wasn't at Penglais but lived in Aber from 1979 to 1985. Love the books to bits - the idea of Aber as the Welsh LA is just so right! It's such a lovably quirky and self-obsessed place, with the oddest 'characters' I'm sure I will ever meet(spotted one or two in the books). It's very rare to come across either a truly funny book or an original one these days, and these books are both, in spades.
Tue Apr 25 09:21:26 2006

Timothy Mills from Bradford
I was a year behind Malcolm Pryce in school. I remember a little poem he wrote in a school magazine (Plascrug Primary). I guess he was ten. Perhaps his first work. It went Edward Heath sailing in the Morning Cloud up to number ten. Hope I'm right?
Thu Mar 16 20:48:24 2006

ye min
fabulous books, we love them! I have a spot for Aberystwyth, apple doughnuts..really puts North wales on the map, love the idea of 'marshalling yards'on the Vale of Rheidol! the evil PE Teacher whose fall from the plane would have killed a 'normal man' - I used to be a teacher..and the paramilitary wing of the WI There should be a film!
Tue Jan 17 21:40:33 2006

Dave Roberts from Llandudno
So good to see decent novels set in Wales; I have enjoyed every one of the 'Aberystwyth' books and the odd mention of my home town Llandudno only adds to the pleasure. Great stories, great characters and an eye for the detail of life in Wales that delights. I hope the series just keeps on going...
Sun May 15 19:05:51 2005

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