BAFTA-winning screenwriter and bestselling author Matthew Hall will be giving a book talk later this month about his new novel.

The Welsh Newton-based crime writer, known for his Jenny Cooper Coroner novels and screenwriting the award-winning BBC series Keeping Faith, is appearing at St Mary’s Church in Ross on Thursday, May 21, to chat about his latest offering Totem.

Totem is a gripping legal and environmental thriller set in the rarely seen world of Canada’s First Nation people, among the rugged forest wilderness of British Columbia.

It is a tale of racism, exploitation and corruption based on the real-life treatment of this minority in a supposedly ultra-liberal country.

In Totem, Jessie Cunningham, a high-flying Toronto lawyer with a round-the-clock schedule, is deserted and betrayed by her jealous partner, she suffers a nervous collapse.

To recuperate, she takes up an isolated charity assignment, mapping trees in the forest wilderness of British Columbia.

As her guide to the rugged terrain, she engages Todd Samson, a taciturn First Nations man from the Three Valleys reserve, who is on the front line of the struggle to save his community from ruthless developers.

Two people from vastly different worlds, the pair are slowly building a rapport when Todd is arrested and falsely accused of murder.

Shocked by the police’s casual disregard for evidence, Jessie steps forward to assist a jaded local lawyer with Todd’s defence.

But she is soon pitted against darker forces. Teaming up with the Chief of Three Valleys and a local shaman, she finds herself taking on greed and corruption in a race to save the reserve and its people from destruction and Todd from his own demons.

Matthew studied at Oxford University, where he graduated in law and became a barrister, before taking up his writing career by writing episodes for Kavanagh QC, starring John Thaw.

He also reflected on his background as a criminal barrister in his debut novel The Coroner, which was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2009 as was his fourth novel, The Flight, in 2012.

His first original TV series, Wing and a Prayer, was nominated for a British Academy Film and Television Awards in the best series category.

In a screenwriting career spanning more than 20 years, he has won several awards including a BAFTA Cymru in 2018 for Keeping Faith.

Matthew has written seven novels and one prequel novella in the best-selling Jenny Cooper series.

The book talk and signing is a joint event for Rossiter Books and The Friends of St Mary's Church in Ross.

Tickets are priced at £8 for the talk, which begins at 7pm, are on sale at Rossiter Books in the High Street or by phone on 01989 564 464 and via ticketsource.com and rossiterbooks.co.uk.