James Twining Books in Order

James Twining was born in London in December 1972, but spent much of his childhood in France. He was brought up in Paris until he was eleven, then returned to the UK and later studied French Literature at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a First Class degree.

That mix of London, Paris, French culture, and a love of old stories would prove useful later. His thrillers move easily between European cities, museums, churches, auction houses, hidden rooms, and the less respectable corners of the art trade.

Before novels, Twining worked a long list of jobs. He has included caddy, car washer, cellar hand, factory worker, grape picker, investment banker, management consultant, entrepreneur, and pot washer among them.

Writing was not the obvious plan.

As a boy, Twining fell hard for thrillers after picking up The Bourne Identity on a flight to the South of France. He read through Robert Ludlum's Bourne books before the trip was over, then moved on to writers including Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Ian Fleming, Frederick Forsyth, Jack Higgins, and Ken Follett. He found the kind of reading experience he wanted to create himself: a story that grabs hold quickly and keeps moving.

Still, he did not grow up expecting to become a novelist. When he began The Double Eagle in 2004, it was his first attempt at fiction since a school poetry competition. While clearing out his parents' garage, he also found old notebooks full of plot and character ideas he had forgotten writing.

The impulse had been there for a while.

The Double Eagle arrived in 2005 and introduced Tom Kirk, an elite art thief who would rather leave the criminal world behind. The book became the first of four Tom Kirk novels, followed by The Black Sun, The Gilded Seal, and The Geneva Deception. The debut sold more than 160,000 copies in the UK and was translated into nearly twenty languages.

Twining's books pair modern crime plots with real objects, historical events, and places that reward a closer look. Tom's cases involve a Fort Knox robbery, wartime secrets, forged art, stolen masterpieces, illicit antiquities, and criminal networks that cross borders. The stories are built for readers who enjoy puzzles, chases, uneasy partnerships, and a little art history mixed into the danger.

He puts serious research into the background details, reading widely and visiting locations when he can. Some of his own interests also turn up in the fiction: Tom shares his fondness for backgammon and expensive watches, while Paris appears again and again. Twining has taken an extended break from active novel-writing to focus on his business career, but has continued to keep story ideas in development.