Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
“THERE ARE BOOKS THAT ARE COMPULSIVE, THAT GRIP AND DON’T LET GO. 'CONFESSOR COP' IS ONE OF THEM” - Mike Nicol, veteran crime novelist & writing teacher. I've had the privilege of telling some cracking stories during my four decade transition from magazine feature writer to my destined niche: a ghostwriter skilled in excavating stories buried in trauma. Some won awards. A bunch feature in true crime docuseries for Discovery+ & Amazon. A brace are in the running for a major Netflix production. And a top producer is pitching my second ghostwritten memoir “Confessor Cop” to a major streamer. Set in some of the world’s most violent, crime ravaged suburbs, it’s an intriguing account of how a seasoned Cape Town detective coaxed confessions from notorious serial killers and rapists who confided as if he were their priest. It’s a psychological deep dive about how these revelatory interactions shaped him. How they slowly broke him with their soul sapping trauma. And then coaxed his own personal confessions. Turning him deeply inward for the most profound investigation of his life. Back to my past. My feature writing won half a dozen Mondi Paper Magazine Awards, including one in 2003 for “Ghetto Defendant”. An exclusive, penetrating profile of former Springbok wing Ashwin Willemse for Sports Illustrated magazine, it was later reprinted as a case study in the university journalism set book “Writing for the Media”. In 2014, I made my ghostwriting debut with “Call It Like It Is”, the multi bestseller memoir of the legendary international rugby referee Jonathan Kaplan. That same year my behind the scenes coverage of the Shrien Dewani honeymoon bride murder case produced a series of UK front page scoops. Subsequent coverage of several more high-profile murder trials regularly made headlines in South African weekend papers. This prepared me for my first foray into film in 2021 when I joined an award winning UK production company as the South African producer of a true crime documentary on the Dewani saga for Discovery+ channel. Last year I assisted in the production of another Dewani murder doccie, this time for Amazon, released at the end of 2025. Currently I’m ghostwriting the tragic life story of a woman still grappling in the #MeToo era with the trauma of being raped 50 years ago by a global pop star she yearns to expose. Like the "Confessor Cop" it’s a compelling, true crime page turner with so many twists and turns it reads as if it were fiction. # Have a subject who seeks to dive deep? Let’s connect via InMail or [email protected]
In 2012 international rugby referee Jonathan Kaplan had leading rugby scribes queuing up to write his memoir. But he wanted a biographer curious about his psychological make up and how that informed his legendary whistle. A steep learning curve ensued, the strong willed Kaplan showing me a card or two during sometimes vicious arguments over what was not for public consumption. This while also waving me on with compassion to play what was in front of me while my 26-year marriage crumbled around me. Eventually in 2014 we managed a bitter sweet final whistle. Titled “Call It Like It Is” against an iconic cover, it went on to become a multiple best seller. That same year my behind-the-scenes coverage of the Shrien Dewani honeymoon murder case produced a series of UK and South African front-page scoops. Specialisation and a curated archive set me up for my first foray into film in 2021 when word of mouth got me hired by award-winning UK production company Dragonfly TV who credited me in their final cut as a South African producer. The four-episode “The Honeymoon Murder” for Discovery+ channel left a lot of my compelling archive on the cutting room floor. Enough to weave together a book proposal that caught a publisher’s eye. While drafting sample chapters I was sidetracked by another book editor asking me to investigate a violent crimes detective she’d heard about at book club. Her hunch was spot on. The detective, a master at coaxing confessions, was indeed a book in waiting. She snapped up my “Confessor Cop” proposal me thinking I could knock it off quickly as a straightforward true crime yarn. But I was deeply deluded thinking I could get back to Dewani... Read the rest of this story in my Featured section under the Writing For The Media tab... # If you have a subject who wants to dive deep in the telling of their unique story, who needs my experience to navigate the trauma that is stifling their voice, let’s connect via InMail or [email protected]
Antiquated freelance rates required me to expand my repertoire. While still honing my feature writing, found a lucrative niche in tabloid journalism. Narrowed my beat to Prince Harry and his Chelsy, from Cape Town to Botswana, garnering front page exclusives and page leads for royal correspondents at The Sun, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and News of the World. Quickly learnt a camera paid more than words and filed not only for the tabloids but for London based Noble Draper Pictures. With a long term eye on true crime writing, kept busy in between tabloid assignments reporting on murder and robbery and major High Court trials for Cape Town’s Weekend Argus and her sister papers. Exclusive stories quickly established a solid front page and page lead byline presence. https://muckrack.com/mike-behr https://iol.co.za/authors/mike-behr/
Winner of six Mondis, the Oscars of South African magazine writing. (Details in Honours and Awards section.) Wrote exclusively for South Africa's premier women's magazine Fair Lady for almost a decade and thereafter for many other major magazines, locally and abroad, including: Sports Illustrated FHM GQ Marie Claire Red Bulletin Rugby World Inside Sport Songlines SA City Life Across the years interviewed Sting in London, reported on the Rolling Stones in New Orleans, pulled three Gs in a fighter jet and nearly suffered a cardiac arrest alongside a cowboy pilot named Whiskey. Despite a name that did not exactly inspire confidence, marvelled as he rode his battered chopper like a bronco in and out of crags and crevices in an unforgettable dusk search for Roof of Africa endurance bikers lost in Lesotho's Maloti Mountains. Oh yes, there was also riding tandem on a microlight (like you would pillion on a motorbike), long legs wrapped snugly around a pilot who intended to circumnavigate the world. The aim was to gain first person experience, not to restrict the pilot’s breathing so emphatically it forced an emergency landing. Also profiled self-made tech billionaire Mark Shuttleworth and explorer extraordinaire Mike Horn; cricket legends Jonty Rhodes, Kevin Pietersen and Makhaya Ntini; rugby heroes Francois Pienaar, Schalk Burger and Ashwin Willemse; and international footballers Lucas Radebe and Mark Fish. In the process won the trust of newly baptised Proteas captain Graeme Smith for an explosive world exclusive that blew the lid off Aussie sledging for the very first time. Got caught up in crime: from serial killings to cash in transit heists and muti murders. Gradually segued into reporting major High Court murder trials for local weekend papers: family slayer Henri Van Breda, wife killers Jason Rhode and Rob Packham and the acquitted Shrien Dewani.
Joined South Africa's leading women's magazine as a Sub Editor & was promoted to Chief Sub eight months later. Was also the mag's Music Editor. In September 1990 returned to writing as a Features Writer. In that role, first as a staffer and then a freelancer, won five Mondi finalist awards and was joint winner of a sixth. (Details in Awards section)
Magazine production & rotational issue editor.