Author R&R with Neville Blackwood

Neville Blackwood is a former senior UK police officer whose thirty-year career placed him at the heart of some of the most dangerous and complex criminal investigations of modern times. Specializing in covert operations, terrorism, organized crime, homicide, and human trafficking, he worked with various UK police forces, including Scotland Yard, and also the UK Foreign Office, where he helped shape responses to murders, kidnappings, terrorist incidents, and human trafficking cases involving British nationals overseas. Inspired by decades on the front line of criminal investigations, Neville brings rare authenticity to crime fiction.

His debut novel, Covert, is set in the shadows of 1990s London, where untouchable crime boss Freddie Morgan rules by fear. Tasked with bringing him down, Detective Sergeant Mark Carter is seconded to a covert Met Police unit, whose aim is to infiltrate Morgan’s heroin operation. Backed by a fraudster-turned-informant with everything to lose, Mark knows that one wrong move means exposure and certain death. But as the undercover sting tightens, he uncovers something far more dangerous: corruption within his own ranks. With the lines between law and crime beginning to blur, Mark is forced to confront a brutal question—who can he trust when even his own team may be compromised?

 

Neville Blackwood stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R about writing the book:

 

When people ask about the research behind Covert, my answer is slightly unusual because, in many ways, the research began decades before I wrote a single word.

 

I spent thirty years in policing, much of it working in serious and organised crime investigations, including the shadowy and highly sensitive world of undercover operations in London. During that time, I saw first-hand the pressures, ethical dilemmas, risks, and psychological strain that come with covert policing. Those experiences inevitably became the bedrock of Covert.

 

When I look back on my career, what stays with me most is not simply the operational complexity of investigations, but the profound human consequences behind them. I was involved in cases that represented life-changing and sometimes life-shattering moments. Those experiences exposed me not only to criminal behaviour at its darkest, but also to extraordinary resilience, courage and vulnerability. They informed my understanding of human nature and inevitably influenced the emotional depth and moral tension I wanted to bring to Covert.

 

Writing fiction required a different discipline from investigating crime. Memory can provide atmosphere, authenticity, and emotional truth, but it doesn't automatically create a compelling narrative. I quickly realised that lived experience had to be shaped, structured, and sometimes restrained in service of the story.

 

One of my biggest challenges was deciding how much real operational detail to include. I wanted the novel to feel authentic without turning it into a procedural manual. That meant drawing on the realities of surveillance, informant handling, covert meetings, intelligence development, and courtroom strategy, while carefully fictionalising operational specifics.

 

I reflected deeply on cases I had worked, and spent time thinking not just about what happened operationally, but how it felt emotionally - and the memories came flooding back! Crime fiction often focuses on action, but what fascinated me most was the human dimension: trust, betrayal, fear, loyalty, and moral ambiguity. Undercover work is rarely black and white; people operate in shades of grey, and I wanted that complexity to run through the novel.

 

I am not a heavy planner when writing fiction. In Covert I began with a strong framework, key characters, and major plot points, but allowed the story room to evolve. Sometimes characters took the narrative in directions I hadn't anticipated. In that sense, writing felt surprisingly similar to major crime investigation: you start with a hypothesis, follow the evidence, test assumptions, and remain open to unexpected developments.

 

If there is one thing my policing career taught me that helped most as a novelist, it is observation. Detectives are trained to notice what others miss: inconsistencies, body language, small details that reveal larger truths. Writing demands much the same discipline.

 

Ultimately, Covert is fiction, but it is fiction grounded in reality. My aim was not simply to write a crime thriller, but to give readers an authentic glimpse into a world few ever see—one where the line between law enforcement and criminality can become dangerously blurred, and where truth is often the hardest thing to uncover.

You can learn more about Neville Blackwood via his website and follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Threads, and Instagram. Covert is now available via Cranthorpe Millner and all major booksellers.