Nicholas Rhea

Nicholas Rhea (1936-2017) began to writing in the late 1950s after years of casual interest, having his first short story published in the Police Review. As he continued to rise through the ranks at the region's police hedquarters in Northallerton, he published his first novel, Carnaby and the Hijackers, in 1976. He is primarily known for his Constable Nick series, inspired by his many years of police service. He retired in 1982 to concentrate on his writing, encouraged by an interest in his Constable books from Yorkshire Television. This was to become the highly popular Heartbeat series, which ran for eighteen seasons and over 350 episodes.