ohn Liam Hazen began writing at the age of nine, though there was never any doubt, at least to him, that he should become a priest. His writing, though a constant throughout his life, was never meant to be published. After the death of his father Hazen became withdrawn and argumentative, turning away from his to become a small county vicar in favour of law, where he found arguing “the finer points of law” a chronic passion. In asking about (“Sojourn”) and its conception, Hazen responded ‘I must confess it was not entirely my own idea. A dear friend gave us the idea for ‘The Queen’s Bench’ series when a conversation ensued about law and Sherlock Holmes. Whilst I argued for law and he for Holmes and ‘the method’, we found something quite new and interesting in the concept of converging the two. A High Court judge, a barrister and Holmes; the most unlikely union of all just might turn out to be the most interesting.’

Belengine Hershey Award, for class rank. 1980
MENSA Award, for writing. 1987