Coming Soon: City of Destruction by Vaseem Khan

 
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
29 November 2024

The 5th Book in the Malabar House series.

A political rally ends in tragedy when Persis kills a lone gunman as he attempts to assassinate India's divisive Home Minister, a man calling for war with neighbouring Pakistan.
With the Malabar House team tasked to hunt down his co-conspirators, Persis is given a second case when the burned body of an unidentified white man is found on a Bombay beach.
Meanwhile, Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, lies in a hospital fighting for his life, as all around him the country tears itself apart as a prelude to war...

Vaseem Khan was born in London in 1973. He studied finance at the London School of Economics. He first saw an elephant lumbering down the middle of the road in 1997 when he arrived in the city of Mumbai, India to work as a management consultant. This surreal sight inspired his Baby Ganesh Agency series of 'gritty cosy crime' novels. His aim with the series is to take readers on a journey to the heart of modern India. He returned to the UK in 2006 and has since worked at University College London for the Department of Security and Crime Science. Elephants are third on his list of passions, first and second being great literature and cricket, not always in that order. His first book The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra was a Times Bestseller and an Amazon Best Debut. The second in the series Perplexing Theft of The Jewel in The Crown won the 2017 Shamus Award for Best Original Private Investigator Paperback. His latest book in the Malabar House series is Death of A Lesser God, published in 2023. 

http://vaseemkhan.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VaseemKhanUK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VaseemKhanOfficial/

News From the Continent : Criminal Women

A History of Female Criminality
A Visit to an Exhibition
by Susanne Querfurth

 

What turns a woman into a criminal in the public eye? And is a criminal woman any different from a criminal man? An exhibition in a small museum in the historical German Spa town of Baden-Baden set out to explore this question.

Back the 19th century the scientific theory on criminals in general was as simple as it was faulty. Physical features allowed one to determine quite clearly the character of a person. So from measuring skull circumference, length of nose and shape of ears common determinators were evolved, enabling to label someone a thief, a whore or a potential murderer. Finally anthropology developed a highly stylistic and racist set of „criminal types“, making it possible to judge and condemn individuals on first sight. A few decades later, the Nazis really went to town with ideas like that.

To ask with Professor Higgins: “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” Interestingly, along similar lines of “scientific” reasoning as above, based on their physical features women were thought to be prone to committing certain misdeeds or crimes rather than others. On the one hand they were by nature determined for motherhood and therefore at the same time capable of and victimized by much more intense and raw emotion than men. In other words: deeply loving but a bit unstable and not to be trusted. Also, to be able to give birth they would clearly feel less physical pain than men. Any physical discomfort of theirs could therefore be disregarded as hysterics. One scientist compared women to “big children”, with more “bad traits” than men.

According to his theory, women were rather leaning to crimes like prostitution than to more violent acts. 

A similar bias quite likely led to a spectacular court ruling in the case of Lizzie Borden, defendant in an American axe murder trial, says the crime psychologist Lydia Benecke.  One argument in Borden’s acquittal was that such a crime would not have been in her nature as a woman. Futile but interesting it might be to speculate about the outcome of the ruling, had the means of the murder been poison – widely regarded as a “female” weapon.

A different case of a woman who committed atrocious crimes is that of the Hungarian Countess Elisabeth Báthory in the 17th century. She tortured and killed a number of young women, aided by her staff of equally cruel and loyal servants. A century after her death a male cleric invented a completely fictitious tale about the Countess having once punished a servant girl whereby a droplet of blood fell on her hand. Because she afterwards perceived the spot as rejuvenated she started to kill young women and bathed in their blood to stay young. This story about the “Vampire Countess” is still being recounted today although it is nothing more than a fairytale.

In both cases the gender of the perpetrator influenced the perception of their guilt. Either it was unthinkable that a woman could have committed an atrocious murder, or she had to be demonized to explain the deed. And in both cases modern psychology can well explain the psychopathological personality traits that might have led to the respective murders, very much regardless of gender.

Throughout the exhibition I learned that gender is the main factor influencing society’s judgment of deviant behaviour of women. 

During the Nazi rule in Germany we find a rising criminalization of political actions and opinions. One means of repression was to let more and more perpetrations fall under the death penalty.

Women had emancipated from the role model of the late 19th century and the German Empire during and after WW I. National Socialism aimed to reverse this development – independent and self assured women did not fit the Nazi ideal of womanhood.

This led to criminalization and in many cases even euthanasia of those who did not fit within the narrow definition of “normal”. Among others the exhibition portraits two artists who were committed to mental
institutions and concentration camps.

Painter Eva Schulze-Knabe was found guilty of supporting both communists and the resistance and was incarcerated, while her husband was sentenced to death. She managed to continue drawing self portraits on scraps of paper, thus working as an artist throughout the ordeal and giving insights into the brutal reality of her prison. Her artist friend Hildegard Seemann-Wechler suffered from a mental illness and was committed to an institution, sterilized and finally killed in 1940.

That the husband, Herr Schulze, was executed while his wife went to prison aligns with a then common tendency to judge the deeds of women not independently but rather as actions of loyalty to or influenced by their spouses than deeds of their own volition. Overall, men tended to be prosecuted for criminal offences, women for behaviour against social norms which often also covered aspects of mental illness or sexual behaviour.

Prostitution as a crime makes up another substantial part of the exhibition. The wide spread opinion in the 19th and early 20th century was divided between two theories that were logically not completely compatible. It was understood that social problems like poverty, broken families or alcoholism made prostitution the only means of income available to many women. Then again, it was seen as a decision, an act of free will to succumb to those pressures or temptations and prostitute oneself. And girls, being the weaker gender and suffering worse under the bad social circumstances than boys did, would therefore not be educated or morally strong enough to make better decisions for their lives. Their weakness lead them into crime.

What about the other person involved in the deal, the punter, one might ask? He was rather seen as being seduced and not as a party in a criminal act. Unsurprisingly, double standards are applied here as well. We can finally suggest an answer to Professor Higgins’ question: because society won’t allow her to be.

————————————————
Criminal Women. Eine Geschichte der weiblichen Kriminalität. Museum LA8 Baden-Baden, May 5, 2023 –February 29, 2024Volume accompanying the exhibition: Jadwiga Kamola, Sabine Becker,  Ksenija Chochkova Giese (Hg.):Criminal Women. Eine Geschichte der weiblichen Kriminalität, Verbrecher Verlag Berlin 2023C. Lombroso und C. Ferrero: Das Weib als Verbrecherin und Prostituierte, Hamburg 1894. 

Susanne Querfurth is a member of the Murderous Sisters (Mörderische Schwestern)
Germany. Her short story about an incident on a commuter train won a prize at a Crime Festival although it leaves open whether a crime has been committed at all. Susanne loves to read any genre but especially adores the great female crime writers. She works in HR and lives with her husband and a tortie cat in a wine region often dubbed the German Tuscany.

St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend

9-11 August 2024

by Lizzie Sirett

The first time I attended the St Hilda’s conference was in 1997. It was my first experience of a crime fiction conference and I loved it. So much so, that I attended for the next 23 years. 
Then covid struck.
Because of parking restriction during the building work they were doing I hadn’t recently attended, but I did this year. Firstly, the building alteration to the college are simply magnificent. No don't panic as you can see from the picture above, the buildings haven’t been changed, just more have been added.

As in previous years, the weekend conference has a theme.
For this the 31st year the theme was

 A Dance to the Music of Crime
the Artful path to murder.

After the welcome at 5pm, we all gathered to meet Joan Cockin’s Granddaughter,
see photo left with Triona. And a chance to buy
Deadly Earnest.
Recently re-published by Galileo Publishers.

Afterwards we  all made our way to dinner, held as in previous years in the beautiful wood panelled dining room in the building you see above. 

  

Rev. Richard Coles has been a chancellor of the university of Northampton since 2017 and is a former Honorary Chaplain to the Worshipful company of Leathersellers.

His first novel in the series. The Canon Clement Mysteries
was a number one bestseller

www.richardcoles.com

On Saturday after a welcome by Sarah Hillary, the first speaker was 
Mark Billingham.

I would like to say that I enjoyed his enjoyment of country and western music in relation to his protagonist, and to a degree I did, until he trashed  jazz. Far too much bloody opera and jazz, if you ask me, he said.
Being a great lover of both opera and jazz, I decided to tune out at that point. My friend David Whittle, also a jazz and opera fan, booed loudly, so I joined in.

Following Mark there were talks by

  Erin Kelly who spoke on: Murder on the Dance Floor.
Doug Johnstone: A Lifetime of Dancing About Architecture
Saima Mir: From Bollywood to Bestseller
Lucie Whitehouse: Is it Different for Girls?

The 5-6pm slot was a talk by David Whittle on Edmund Crispin. David has provided…...

‘A Speaker’s Perspective....’

I was thrilled and flattered in equal measure when asked to speak at this year’s St Hilda’s weekend. The first time I lectured about Edmund Crispin was at the second such event in 1995. To be honest, looking back I’m surprised I knew enough about him to give a talk at the time as I’d only just started my researches for the biography I eventually published.

This year’s theme, A Dance to the Music of Crime, couldn’t be more suited to a writer who was also a composer under his real name of Bruce Montgomery. And I’m an admirer of Anthony Powell’s great novel sequence, whose title (after Poussin’s painting, of course) provided the pun in the year’s theme.

Having fought my way into Oxford off the M40, a warm welcome was provided by the organisers, and it was lovely to be reacquainted with Jean Harker who had invited me in 1995. I was able to remind the Rev. Richard Coles of the time I conducted him in a choir in Boston Parish Church when he was the curate there, and I was particularly pleased to meet Jake Lamar whose jazz-age novel Viper’s Dream I reviewed enthusiastically in Mystery People last year and which subsequently won this year’s CWA Historical Dagger.

Despite (or, perhaps, because of) the theme, there was a wide variety of talks. Joan Cockin’s grand-daughter provided a welcome introduction to the extraordinary life and times of this re-discovered author that had many of us scuttling off to buy her recently re-published novels. On Saturday morning Mark Billingham, in Songs in the Key of Murder, drew up battle lines after making disobliging remarks about the influence of jazz in crime (‘far too much bloody jazz, if you ask me’ he wrote in the outline for his talk). Jake Lamar provided a robust defence of the genre in his Once Upon a Time in Harlem on Sunday. Mind you, sitting with Mark, Doug Johnstone and Mick Herron amongst others on Saturday night in a neighbouring pub showed just how much the three know about rock (this from someone whose teenage musical rebellion – I was a cathedral chorister – peaked with The Carpenters and Barry Manilow). It was a novel experience to be ejected from a pub with sundry best-selling authors – not, sadly, because of bad behaviour but merely because it was closing time (Crispin would have been proud of us).

Those enthusiasts in attendance were certainly spoilt for choice. Other talks ranged from ballet to Bollywood, opera to Wimsey. Philip Gooden’s murder mystery challenge, Murder Con Brio, followed the PD James Dinner and featured some deliciously over-acting authors. It was entirely appropriate, following his comments about jazz, that Mark Billingham got his comeuppance and was unmasked as the villain.

 If you haven’t been to the St Hilda’s weekend, I encourage you to give it a go. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxed mix of enthusiasts and writers in a gorgeous setting. Where else, for instance, would you get someone (in this case me) trying to explain to someone who grew up in The Bronx (Jake Lamar) exactly what the Carry On films were?* And all in the name of crime.  * In case you didn’t know, under his real name Edmund Crispin  composed the scores for the early Carry On films

Following drinks on the lawn on the Saturday evening The PD James dinner was served in the beautiful dining room. It has become a tradition for a murder mystery to be executed during the dinner. All the diners have to do is identify the murderer.

I own to be complete rubbish at this but I enjoy watching the people from the top table preforming, They are all without exception brilliant.

 The after dinner speaker was Philip Gooden, who lives in Bath.  He writes both fiction and non fiction. His mystery novels include the Nick Revill series, a sequence based in Elizabethan London and set around Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

The third Book in the serries, The Pale Companion, was shortlisted  for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award. He is the author of The Guinness Guide to Better English and the editor of The Mammoth Book of Literary Anecdotes. Each of his Nick Revill mysteries revolves around a Shakespearean play mirroring life - in Sleep of Death the play was Hamlet, in this offering it is Troilus and Cressida.

 Sunday brought us

Ellie Griffiths, 

author of the series of crime novels set in England’s Norfolk County and featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway.

The first in the series, Crossing Places, featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway earned a good deal of praise both in Griffiths’ native country, England, and in the U.S. Norfolk Count. The Literary Review termed it “a cleverly plotted and extremely Interesting first novel, highly recommended. 

Since then, Elly has written fourteen further novels in the series. Recently she has written a second series set in Brighton in the 1950’s featuring magician Max Mephisto and DI Stephens. There are seven books in the new series, and an eighth scheduled to be published October 2025.

 Elly said she wrote her first book when she was eleven, it was called The Hair of the Dog,  which, she said must have been something her parents talked about. But in her mind it was to make something better.  She never finished it. Her first four books were published under her real name which is Domenica de Rosa, which in Italian means Sunday of the rose.  She always felt it was a writer’s name, and said she practiced writing her signature.  Although she has an Italian father she was born in London.

After graduating from  King’s College London she worked in a library and then got a job as a publicity assistant at HarperCollins.  She said she  loved working in publishing and eventually became Editorial Director for children’s books. She talked about the enjoyment of writing children’s books and yes, people are killed in her children’s books, but she said the thing to do is just to kill the teachers, not the children.

She talked about her meeting her husband Andy in a city wine bar. He was with a group of lawyers’, they got chatting,  and he told her didn't want to be a lawyer, what he really wanted to be was an archaeologist. She thought, Oh! how sweet, and decided to marry him. 

It was when she was on maternity leave that she started to write her first book, which would become her first published novel, Return to the Italian Quarter.

She had decided not to go back to HarperCollins after her maternity period was up, but was offered ‘A lovely treat’ to edit letterland, which was created to teach phonics using a story-based approach. The set-up was weird, she said, and can only be described as a poisoned chalice. Example: for the letter ‘F’ Fireman Fred’s Hose fits firm in his fist. She did try to point out that some people might see a double meaning there. However, she did write few herself - Poor Peter’s Perfect Pizza and several others.

But the birth of Ruth Galloway was when walking across Titchwell Marsh, Andy mentioned Prehistoric man and said he thought that marshland was sacred, because it’s neither land nor sea, but something in-between, a kind of bridge to the afterlife. As he said these words said Elly, ‘the entire plot of The Crossing Places appeared, fully formed, in my head and, walking towards me out of the mist, I saw Dr Ruth Galloway. And I knew everything about her. I didn’t think that this new book was significantly different from my ‘Italy’ books but, when she read it, my agent said, ‘This is crime. You need a crime name.’ She’d thought of taking her grandmother’s name Helena, but somehow she became Elly.  She recalled this in a later interview with Jane Wood and asked her ‘how did I get to be Elly?’  Jane replied ‘I think it looked a bit tidier’. Hence Elly Griffiths.

She had a two book deal, but was careful to leave the first book with an emotional cliff-hanger. Those of us who have avidly devoured the fifteen books in this series must, like me, be wondering and hoping, will there be more?

www.ellygriffiths.co.uk

My thanks go to the committee. Jake Kerridge, Jean Buchanan,
Mick Herron,  Jane Casey, Carolyn Kirby,
Abir Mukherjee and in particular Sarah Hilary 

who did a marvellous job seemingly to be
everywhere the whole weekend.

As it says in the Brochure,  the St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend is like no other.
It has drawn readers and writers from all over the world for thirty years.

It is truly unique. If you haven’t yet been you are missing
something special.

Home | St Hilda's College Oxford 

Coming Soon: The Killer in the Cold by Alex Pine

 

Published by Avon,
7th November 2024.
Available in Paperback or Kindle

The 5th Book in the
DI James Walker series

When a body dressed in a Santa Claus suit appears in the snow just outside a small village in Cumbria, DCI James Walker is the first to appear on the scene. Almost a year has passed since something so tragic has happened in the close-knit community, and James is hopeful that it’s just an accidental death.

 But when he uncovers the body, he discovers something that chills him to the bone. The man, a former police officer, was murdered. And it’s not long before another body appears.

Time is ticking as James races to uncover the killer’s next victim, before they strike again. But can James find them before the snow washes away the evidence?

From the master of wintery crime, comes a thriller that will chill you to the bone…

Alex Pine is the pseudonym of a bestselling author who has also written sixteen books under the names Jaime and James Raven. Before becoming a full time writer, he spent a career in journalism as a newspaper reporter and television producer. He was for a number of years director of a major UK news division and until recently co-owned a TV production company.  For a while he was also a part-time professional magician. He’s married and divides his time now between homes in Hampshire and Spain. 

http://www.james-raven.com/  

Coming Soon: The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey by L. C. Tyler

 Published by Constable, 

 21 November 2024.

 Available in Hardback and Kindle format

The tenth book in the
John Grey Historical Mystery Series.

October 1678. Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, respected London wood monger and Court Justice, sets out from his house, early one foggy morning, in his second-best coat. Then he vanishes. Six days later, his body is discovered in a ditch near Primrose Hill. He has been severely beaten, strangled and stabbed through the chest - killed three times, in fact. There's no doubt somebody wanted him dead. The cash in his pockets however is still there. And, in spite of the wet weather and muddy roads, his clothes are dry and his shoes are spotlessly clean.
People are quick to connect his killing with the role Godfrey has played in exposing a Catholic plot to kill the King. His name is, after all, an anagram of 'dy'd by Rome's reveng'd fury'. Parliament, whipped into a frenzy by the conspirator Titus Oates, demands a suitable perpetrator is found. But it soon becomes clear that
Godfrey had not merely offended the Catholics. And he had, some weeks before, predicted his own death with uncanny accuracy.
Magistrate John Grey is summoned from his Essex village to investigate an increasingly inexplicable crime and to prevent some innocent men from being hanged as a regrettable political necessity.

https://authordebbieyoung.com

 

 L. C. Tyler was born in Southend, Essex, and educated at Southend High School for Boys, Jesus College Oxford and City University London. After university he joined the Civil Service and worked at the Department of the Environment in London and Hong Kong. He then moved to the British Council, where his postings included Malaysia, Thailand, Sudan and Denmark. Since returning to the UK he has lived in Sussex and London and was Chief Executive of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for eleven years. He is now a full-time writer. His first novel, The Herring Seller's Apprentice, was published by Macmillan in 2007, followed by 8 further books in the series featuring Ethelred Tressider and his agent Elsie Thirkettle. The first book in a new historical series, A Cruel Necessity, was published by Constable and Robinson in November 2014. Since then, he has published nine further books in this marvellous series. 

http://www.lctyler.com/  

‘Missing Person: Alice’ by Simon Mason

Published by Riverrun London,
11 September 2024.
ISBN 978 152942 594-9

Talib, a former policeman known as Finder, is given the task of finding Alice Johnson. Alice had disappeared nine years previously whilst doing her paper round in Sevenoaks, Kent. She was twelve years old. No trace has ever been found of her.  Now, the murder of another young girl, Joleen Price, in the same area has led the original investigating officer, Dave Armstrong, to reopen Alice’s case. Armstrong is convinced that Vince Burns, the man he has in custody for Joleen’s murder, must also have killed Alice all those years ago.

Talib takes lodgings with Mrs Wentworth, a sympathetic elderly lady who mourns the loss of her husband and remembers the profound effect that Alice’s disappearance had, particularly on the newsagent she worked for. Talib traces Alice’s footsteps on the day she went missing and speaks with everyone he could find who might be able to throw light on her behaviour: these included two people who had reported seeing her on the morning she disappeared, her divorced parents, school children and teachers.  It seemed that Alice had been a very self-contained child.  He also interviews Vince Burns a few times. But whilst Vince freely admits to murdering Joleen, he teases Talib with bits of information neither admitting nor denying that he had killed Alice. 

Talib’s search is meticulous. Even after Dave Armstrong orders him to stop searching, Talib refuses to give up. He, too, has suffered loss, secretly trying to convince himself that his parents, supposedly killed by a bomb in Iraq, might still be alive. To complete his task, he weighs the knowledge he has accumulated along with all his instincts and insight into human nature and people’s behaviour. During his investigations Talib reads Henry James’ What Masie Knew, a book that was published well over a hundred years ago. There are many parallels between the two stories, perhaps illustrating that the welfare of vulnerable children has not improved as much as we would have liked.

Simon Mason’s short missive - only 220 pages - is sympathetically written, has lots of twists and turns, and provides plenty of food for thought.
-------
Reviewer Angela Crowther.

Simon Mason is an author of children's and adult books. His first adult novel, a black comedy entitled The Great English Nude, won the Betty Trask first novel award and Moon Pie was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction prize. Running Girl was his first story starring Garvie Smith. Simon lives in Oxford with his wife and their two children.

Angela Crowther is a retired scientist.  She has published many scientific papers but, as yet, no crime fiction.  In her spare time Angela belongs to a Handbell Ringing group, goes country dancing and enjoys listening to music, particularly the operas of Verdi and Wagner.

Coming Soon: Deadfall by Aline Templeton

Published by Allison & Busby

21 November 2024.

The 6th book in the DI Kelso Strang series

There is something sinister about Drumdalloch Woods in the Black Isle near Inverness. It is a place of tangled growth and shadowy darkness, and it has business opportunists, biological scientists and conflicted family members all competing for a say in its future.

Then a body is found, and everything starts to look suspicious. As DCI Kelso Strang’s investigation grows more complex, he unearths layers of hatred, greed and revenge that cast suspicion even on the local police force. Having only just found happiness with his new girlfriend, Cat Fleming, Strang faces an existential threat not only to his career but to his very life.

Aline Templeton grew up in the fishing village of Anstruther, on the east coast of Scotland not far from St Andrews.  The memories of beautiful scenery and a close community inspired her to set the Marjory Fleming series in a place very like that – rural Galloway, in the south-west of Scotland. After attending Cambridge University to read English she taught for a few years.  She now writes full-time.  Her most recent series features DCI Kelso Strang, officer in charge of Police Scotland’s Serious Rural Crime Squad.  

http://www.alinetempleton.co.uk 

‘What Doesn’t Kill Us’ by Ajay Close

Published by Saraband,
9 February 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-913393960 (PB)

In Leeds there have been a number of murders of prostitutes. When there is another, Police Constable Liz Seeley is ordered to investigate, she meets her boss Detective Sergeant Sproson at the scene. The latest victim is Marie Gallacher, and she has a six year old son.

Detective Sergeant Moody at the Station instructs Liz to visit Tanya Sharp, attacked three months ago believed to be by the murderer. She had managed to run off. Liz discovers Tanya is not a prostitute, now the police are really concerned.

Meanwhile, Liz leaves her violent partner Ian and moves in with a group of women’s liberationists. She doesn’t tell them that she is a police officer. The group organise attacks on shop windows advertising sexy underwear and lingerie, smashing the glass, Liz keeps a low profile and stays clear of the action.

The women get on well together until Rowena arrives one day and takes over. She has rather extreme views. Then another woman is murdered, and the perpetrator sends a tape to the police, revealing facts that only the murderer can know, he has a scouse accent.

Things now really hot up with the feminists. Rowena wants to start a revolution, and they attack a cinema showing a film degrading women, burn porn magazines stolen from a shop and shatter offending shop windows. Liz tries to stay out of it but when they set fire to a sex shop which burns down, she is really unsure what to do.

To make things more difficult for Liz, a member of Special Branch instructs her to give him information about the women responsible for all the destruction. She is torn between her newfound friends and the responsibilities of her job.

Another murder, making a total of twelve takes place and once again she is not a prostitute, but this time it’s an eighteen-year-old Queen’s Guider. Women are now more terrified than ever to go out at night. Surely the police must get a breakthrough soon, they have never had a case like this before.

An incredibly descriptive story which brings the late seventies to life, especially the women’s lib movement and everything that went with it. Fascinating too, the attitude of policemen towards the policewomen and how they treated them at the time.

Thoroughly recommended especially for readers interested in the then height of the women’s lib movement and its impact.
------
Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

Ajay Close grew up in Yorkshire. She is a Scottish-based dramatist. She worked at Granta before becoming a journalist and then a writer. Her novels explore the emotional flashpoints of place, politics and family. Her novels are pacy, often political, dealing with family and relationships under pressure.  

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.

Felix Francis : Book Launch

On the 24th September I attended the launch of

Syndicate,

the eighteen book written by Felix Francis.

The event took place at the

 Cavalry and Guards Club at

127 Piccadilly. London.

Which represents history, tradition and timeless elegance.

Published by Zaffre,
26 September 2024.

Chester Newton is a successful racehorse syndicate organiser and his company, Victrix Racing, is having its best year yet. When his prized horse, Potassium, wins the world-famous Epsom Derby, Chester is set to become the next big thing in British horse racing.

But one phone call changes everything.

Someone hiding behind a voice scrambler and an untraceable phone is demanding he fixes a race - and they're willing to go after Chester's family if he fails to comply.

Chester's business is the only thing in his life that isn't falling apart. With his marriage on the rocks and his children growing increasingly distant, he is not willing to let someone destroy the success he's spent his life building.

Then his daughter is kidnapped and, very suddenly, it's not just his livelihood that's on the line. Now Chester must discover just how far he will go to protect his family . . .