The Writers of Wales Database

MARKS, HOWARD

Howard Marks was born in Kenfig Hill, a small Welsh coal–mining village near Bridgend, in 1945. He won a scholarship to study at Oxford University, where he was introduced to 1960s drug culture. This was the start of a journey culminating in his becoming ’the most sophisticated drug baron of all time’ during the mid 1980s (Daily Mirror) via links with the British Secret Service, the CIA, the Mafia and the IRA.

Howard was jailed for marijuana smuggling in 1988 and released in 1995. He has since written an anthology of anecdotal stories and two bestselling auto-biographies, the first of which was the subject of the 2010 film 'Mr Nice' starring Rhys Ifans. Senor Nice (Harvill Secker, 2006) includes some exploration of the life of his ancestor, the pirate Sir Henry Morgan.

Howard became a sports and travel writer, stood as a parliamentary candidate in various constituencies, applied to become the country’s Drug Czar and embarked on a long-running sell-out series of one-man shows. He has also acted in a number of films including 'Human Traffic' and has recently written his debut novel, entitled Sympathy for the Devil (Vintage, 2011). It is the first in his forthcoming crime series. Howard is a Welsh Academy Member.

Selected Publications:
Mr Nice (Vintage, 1997)  
The Howard Marks Book Of Dope Stories (Vintage, 2001)                                                            
Senor Nice (Harvill Secker, 2006)
Sympathy for the Devil (Vintage, 2011)

Contributed to:
Two Dragons (co-writer) (Y Lolfa, 2010)



Sympathy for the Devil (Vintage, 2011)

When Detective Catrin Price returns to Cardiff after 12 years of self-imposed exile she is determined to lay to rest the ghosts of her unhappy past. Then her ex-boyfriend Rhys, once a promising young policeman but now a washed-up junkie, is found dead on one of her first nights on patrol. The official verdict is an accidental overdose, but Cat is convinced that there is something more to his death, something that will explain why the man who saved her life was so unwilling to save his own.

Rhys had always been haunted by the mysterious disappearance of Owen Face, the troubled lead singer of rock band Seerland, who was last seen at a notorious suicide spot. No body was ever found and when Cat joins forces with one of Rhys’ former colleagues, now a wealthy business man obsessed with all things Seerland-related, they begin to wonder whether the rumours that Face is still alive may be true. But when Cat is stalked by a meancing figure with a striking resemblance to a serial rapist Rhys famously put away, she begins to realise her life may also be in danger.

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