The Islamist of Pepynbridge

About Peter Morrell

Peter Morrell was born just before D Day. After school and university where he read French he qualified first as a solicitor and then as a barrister. He practised at the Bar until 1992 when he was appointed a circuit judge trying criminal and civil cases in London and the East Midlands. Peter retired from the Circuit Bench in 2009 but continued to preside over Mental Health Tribunals until 2014. Peter has been an observant Christian since childhood and in 2008 was ordained a deacon of the Church of England; and a year later a priest. He currently ministers in country parishes near his home where he has lived for over forty years. Peter wrote two thrillers in the 1980s which were not published. In 1998 he started to write The Rector of Pepynbridge. Professional commitments meant it was not completed until after he retired in 2014. It was published in June 2015. Like The Rector of Pepynbridge The Pepynbridge Islamist is set in Pepynbridge a village in Northamptonshire and draws upon Peter's professional experiences as barrister judge and clergyman; and upon his knowledge of rural life. Currently Peter is working on his next novel which is set in the same village and features the debate in the Church of England over whether same sex marriages may be conducted in church. It will be ready for publication in 2016. Peter is married to Mary with two grown-up daughters and a granddaughter.