There needs to be an award for best route to crime fiction fame. If there were, surely Chris Dolley would be the bookies’ favourite.

Originally from Bournemouth, he now lives in France. As a youngster Chris programmed computer games and campaigned for Cornish independence, but it’s the time when his identity was stolen which is most interesting, and led to the New York Times bestseller French Fried: One Man’s Move to France With Too Many Animals and an Identity Thief. He had already written a few novels but this 2014 true crime memoire detailed how he investigated the theft of his identity and life savings across four European countries. Police in each jurisdiction wouldn’t touch it, so he solved it himself and landed a bestseller.

Since then he’s written five Reeves & Worcester Steam Punk mysteries, and began the DCI Shand with An Unsafe Pair of Hands. Now, the latest Shand novel has arrived in the form of The Last Hostage in which Shand is brought in to catch a notorious kidnapping gang in South West England – something other detectives have failed to accomplish. The trouble is that Peter Shand is a very loose cannon. His disruptive approach could pay dividends… or end in disaster.

The book is published on 27 October 2026, and we invited Chris to join us on the site to tell us more about this action-packed procedural.

What are crime fiction lovers going to love about The Last Hostage?

That the action starts on page one and keeps on going to the end. 

As much as Shand is an enigma, so is the gang he’s up against. What sets them apart, and what makes them such a challenge for the police?

The gang has kidnapped five people in five months and still the police have nothing. The gang leaves no trace. They wear masks, use voice-distorting software, and keep the hostages in soundproofed rooms. They set the rules of where, when and how the ransom is delivered. And every time the police try to follow, they’re outwitted.  

What happened in the first novel, An Unsafe Pair of Hands, and does any of that carry through to The Last Hostage?

In the first novel, DCI Peter Shand is a high-flier from the Police Inspectorate who needs six months in CID to round off his CV. He’s sent to a quiet rural force, but is immediately handed a high-profile murder case. It’s a fish-out-of-water story with a detective who knows all the theory, but is unprepared for the reality. Or for the tabloid press, who conduct a campaign against Shand, labelling him as inexperienced and incompetent.

The pressure on Shand is intense. Every day it looks like he’s about to be relieved of duty. And every day he talks his way out of it, becoming as creative with the truth as the tabloids. But he does solve the case – even though he was on gardening leave at the time.

In The Last Hostage, Shand is reconciled to the fact that his career has stalled. Everyone remembers the stories in the tabloids. And truth can’t compete with an entertaining lie.

DCI Shand is the protagonist and a bit of a loose cannon. Can you tell us more about him?

Shand is clever, resourceful and can’t see an obstacle – or a rule – without looking for a way around it. He’s also manipulative and very plausible. Most of the time he’s a model detective. But when lives are at stake, he’s all in. 

I’m intrigued by the gold bars, on fire, on the cover. What element of the story does this image represent?

The kidnappers insist that the ransom be paid in gold bars. As for the fire, that comes in later, when the kidnapping investigation becomes a murder inquiry.

How much of a role does the South West of England setting play?

A small, but important, role. This is very much a rural investigation – CCTV and ANPR cameras are rare – so the investigation has to find other, more unusual, methods to track down the gang.

What kind of experience and action can readers expect?

A fast-paced, twisty story with a detective who excels at finding creative ways to circumvent problems. And anything else that gets in his way.   

Were there any wider themes you wanted to explore?

No, the focus is purely on entertainment.  

Which other crime books and/or authors have influenced you? What are you reading right now?

I grew up on Christie and Sayers. I still remember the shock of reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I had no idea you could do that. The narrator was the murderer? It showed me that there were no limits to how you structured a story.

I’m reading Silent Scream by Lynda La Plante now.  

What’s next for DCI Shand, and what’s next for Chris Dolley?

I’ll probably have another look at the original sequel to An Unsafe Pair of Hands. I started the book years ago, but the more I wrote, the funnier the book became and I was left with a problem – am I writing crime or humour?

The Last Hostage by Chris Dolley is released on 27 October 2026 and you can grab a copy with the buttons below.