He broke major stories, including one of the most notorious murder cases in British criminal history: that of Fred and Rosemary West.

Sounes reported that the house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester was the grave site of nine young women, with more victims buried nearby.

Sounes wrote a biography of American poet, novelist and short-story writer Charles Bukowski, becoming so engrossed in the subject that he resigned from his newspaper job to devote himself to the project.

[citation needed] Since his teenage years Sounes had been a fan of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, and in early 1990 he began research for a major biography of the musician.

The book is a study of British singer Amy Winehouse's life in the context of the 27 Club, the group of iconic music stars who died at the same young age, including Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones whose death in 1969 was followed by Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in 1970, Jim Morrison in 1971, and Kurt Cobain in 1994.