Dear Bernard, My name is Alec, and I am sixteen years old. I have read the excellent Sharpe books that you have written. I’m writing to you today, to ask you a question, that carries great importance to my A level essay question; How do you capture the essence of evil in your characters? I’m asking this because I am doing a piece of creative writing in the style of Edgar Allen Poe, or Raymond Chandler, I’m just not sure how to make my Villain a villain. How did you create a character such as Hakeswill? Yours faithfully Alec Vincent.

P.S, a rather more personal question, but where in Essex did you grow up? I live there, in a small village called Theydon Bois, the history of the village is quite rich, including sixteen string Jack, and the infamous Dick Turpin!