Dartmoor author David Sharp reveals the story behind his new Greek crime thriller
David Sharp talks about his third DI Lancaster novel, A Greek Tragedy, his connection to Dartmoor and the experiences that continue to shape his writing
Ivybridge author David Sharp is preparing to release the third novel in his DI David Lancaster detective series, nearly a year after The Moorlander last caught up with him about the second book.
A Greek Tragedy, published by Cranthorpe Millner, will be released on 24 November.
The Moorlander previously spoke to David about One of the Few, which followed his debut novel, For All Your Endeavours.
Since then, the series has continued to reach readers beyond Devon, while David has also been taking part in literary events and developing the next instalments of the series.
His latest novel sees DI Lancaster and DS Marie Vidêt in a very different setting from the Devon landscape featured in his earlier work.
We caught up with David to find out how the series has developed, what inspired his latest story and what he has planned next.
It’s been a little while since we last spoke in September. How have things been going with the series and your writing?
“Since we last spoke in September 2025, quite a lot has happened.
“My second book, One of the Few, was released in October of last year and sales are going well. Book one, For All Your Endeavours, is still selling well.
“There are sales of both books not only in the UK, but they’ve been purchased in three separate states of the USA, as well as in Canada. It appears that copies have been sold in Australia and separately in Tasmania, as well as to expats in France.
“Weirdly, a friend picked up a copy in a bookshop in Thessaloniki, Greece.
“Then the publishers, Cranthorpe Millner, gave me a contract for book three, A Greek Tragedy, which will be released on 24 November.
“I’ve also been doing the rounds of various book festivals. There was the ‘Crime at the Coast’ festival in Torquay last November, where I was a member of a crime authors’ panel, talking about crime stories and their creation.
“I also attended the Plymouth Literary Festival in February this year, talking about the same subject, then the Torbay Literary Festival at the Palace Theatre in August, in a panel under the title ‘Are writers worse than their characters?’
“I also managed to fit in a book-signing event at a Waterstones bookshop in Bridport, Dorset, back in April, as well as doing several rounds of editing for the new book, A Greek Tragedy.”
A Greek Tragedy takes DI Lancaster and DS Vidêt to Zakynthos. What inspired you to set the story on the island?
“The story was inspired by my wife and my many visits there. We have friends who live there, an old school friend of my wife, who married an islander and stayed.
“I’ve loved the island since we first went, back in 1979, and I’ve always been amazed at the tourists who pitch up by the hotel pool every morning, visit a taverna down the street in the evening, and never get to see the rest of the island.
“We’ve always hired a car and headed into the depths. We’ve met islanders with long histories, visited little villages in the hills where only the locals sit in the square.
“We found a village with a very small museum, where a lady followed us around, turning on the light for each room, then turning it back off when we’d finished.
“We walked the cobbled back streets, where people sit on their back porch in the shade and are glad to see a visitor.
“I wanted to find a way to write about the island, tell a story, but also get a chance to explain a little of what has gone on in these places over the years.”
You’ve lived in West Devon for many years. Has Dartmoor or your life here influenced your writing?
“Dartmoor had a great deal of influence in my first book, For All Your Endeavours, where the discovery of a long-dead bog body starts an investigation into an undiscovered murder.
“It was influenced as well by my previous life as a head gardener for a local manor house.
“Everything in life has a way of influencing stories.
“At the moment I’m doing the groundwork for what I hope will be book five, entitled A Dartmoor Legacy, so Dartmoor will reappear, if I get the contract.”
This is the third DI Lancaster novel. How has Lancaster developed across the three books?
“In A Greek Tragedy, my two detectives, Detective Inspector David Lancaster and his sergeant, Marie Vidêt, have strengthened their relationship.
“They are very much an item now, actively planning their future together. This in turn has had a calming effect on the symptoms of Lancaster’s dyspraxia.
“He’s become more in control of his side effects. This doesn’t stop him from having the occasional outburst or speaking out of turn when he should remain quiet, and he still needs to do the job the way he knows best.
“Endless lists. Things being itemised, etc.
“The dyspraxia will never leave him, as I know only too well, but it’s more about the ability to recognise the onset.”
What can readers expect from A Greek Tragedy, and what’s next for you?
“In A Greek Tragedy, readers can expect a fast-paced beginning, but then I’ve tried to convey the idea of sitting back and chilling, having a holiday.
“I want to get the reader to feel warm in the sunshine, relaxed. They will already know that there’s been a death, and they will wonder just when it all ‘kicks off’.
“And inevitably, it does.
“I just hope readers enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
“As for me, and what happens next, well, I have the book launch at The Ivybridge Bookshop on Tuesday 24 November, then a second launch, followed by a question-and-answer session, being held at the Waterstones bookshop in Bridport, Dorset, on Sunday 29 November, my old hometown.
“Then next year I’m back at the Plymouth Literary Festival in the spring, whilst doing the final edit on book four, The Jurassic Curse, a story that starts in Devon but then moves into West Dorset.
“Hopefully this will be released in the autumn of 2027.
“So, busy, busy.”