All the following books are available from most online retailers, including Amazon.
Random Tyranny
The year is 2027: Wars continue in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the Chinese threaten Tai-wan. Another problem is a worldwide outbreak of a new and virulent strain of syphilis.
One of the countries worst affected is the United Kingdom, where the standard of ethics in public life is at an all-time low and law and order have effectively ceased to exist. Politicians of all parties seem clueless.
A group of army officers plan a coup. Amongst them is SAS reservist Richard Tyrrell. An untypical soldier, stoical, introverted, and not far from a pacifist, he joins the conspiracy with grave misgivings. His conscience is further troubled when he begins an affair with a nineteen-year-old handicapped girl who proves more formidable than she seems.
He is targeted by political extremists, she by a serial rapist and murderer. How should a man and woman behave when the world is falling apart around them? …..(MORE)
Jerusalem By Moonlight
Judea, 30 AD. The Prefect, Pontius Pilate, is trying desperately to maintain control over the most volatile province in the Roman Empire. Terrorists, or freedom fighters, are committed to the overthrow of Roman power by force. The knifemen known as Secarii are abroad on moonlit nights, slaughtering those they perceive as traitors sympathetic to the occupying power. And the Passover approaches: the time when Jewish national and religious feeling is at its height. What is the role of the man from Nazareth called Joshua bar-Josef, who preaches love, forgiveness of sin, and the imminent overthrow of all temporal power? Is he a force for rebellion or moderation?…..(MORE)
The Trouble With Mercia
A novel of a dystopian future, but with a difference. The year is 2278. After an unspecified disaster of worldwide proportions in the 21st century, humanity has had to rebuild civilization, aided by those records and artefacts surviving from before the cataclysm, and a standard of technology has been attained approximating to that of early Victorian times…….(MORE)
Murder In A Cathedral City
The First Agnes Bell Mystery
Early in the morning of the last day of 1842, in the middle of the small midland city of Churchfield, there is found the body of a murdered stranger. Enquiries by Constable Buckingham lead to the household of Elijah Lightfoot, a well-respected local banker. It soon becomes clear that both Lightfoot and most of his family and friends have guilty secrets. Which of them had reason to fear the dead man?
Yet not every member of the Lightfoot household is corrupt. The exception is their young governess, Agnes Bell, despised by her employers, reduced to despair by the antics of their monstrous children, and grieving over the recent death of the man she loved. Trying to escape from her misery, she sets herself the task of uncovering the truth. And is she destined to find love again? But the young man she feels attracted to is one of the suspects ……..(MORE)
Murder And The Scottish Play
The Second Agnes Bell Mystery
Agnes Bell, alter ego of Anne Brontë, is back in her native Yorkshire, employed at Miss Wilkinson’s School for Young Ladies at Thorsby, and surprised to receive from her impregnably respectable superior a request to take part in a local theatrical production, including a scene from Macbeth. Both excited and slightly unnerved by the prospect, Miss Bell makes the acquaintance of famous Shakespearean actor Gervase Keene, who has condescended to take part as a favour to his friend Mr Hatfield, chairman of the school governors.
Then tragedy strikes in the shape of a brutal murder. Shocked by the incompetence of the local policeman, Miss Bell decides to investigate. Suspects abound, including an American gangster and a mysterious man of colour. Her investigation leads her deep into the world of the ‘Fancy’: those involved in the sleazy sub-culture of mid-nineteenth century prize-fighting. And indeed, Miss Bell proves no mean fighter herself!…..(MORE)
Murder and the Great Match
The Third Agnes Bell Mystery
November, 1843, and Agnes Bell (alter ego of Anne Brontë) is in Paris as governess to a French family. Her visit happens to coincide with a chess match at the Café de la Régence between the French Champion, Pierre St. Amant, and the Englishman, Howard Staunton. Little more than a quarter of a century after Waterloo, Anglo-French rivalry is still strong. For over a century French players have been acknowledged as the best in the world. Can Mr. Staunton bring that state of affairs to an end?
An onlooker at the match is murdered on his way home late at night. The case presents certain puzzling features, and the Sûreté take the unusual step of calling on unofficial help, including not only that of former criminal Eugène Vidocq, who operates on both sides of the law, but the far more scrupulous Miss Bell.
The result is her most distressing case yet, as the sickening murder of one of her employers brings her into contact with the dregs of the Parisian underworld. But aided by the perennially loyal Mr Tyrrell and two distinguished old soldiers from the Napoleonic War, Miss Bell yet again arrives at the truth, and ensures that justice is done….. (MORE)
Look About and Die
The First Richard Karelius Adventure
Vienna, 1805. The invading Grand Army under the Emperor Napoleon marches into Austria. But why have all British agents there ceased to report? The task of unravelling the truth is entrusted to Richard Karelius, a young Anglo-Prussian cavalryman. Within days of his arrival in Vienna, there is an attempt on his life. But the young Hapsburg officer who comes to his rescue may not be all that he seems.
Meanwhile a junior officer in the French Grand Army is murdered in cold blood for no obvious reason. His friend, Jacques Thiercelin, a captain in the 26th Infantry, is instructed to investigate.
As he and Karelius pursue enquiry from opposite sides of the war, it becomes apparent that their quarry is the same: a savage psychopath losing his grasp on reality. And as their trails converge upon the Theater an der Wien, where Beethoven’s opera, Leonore, (now known as Fidelio) is to have its premiere, both become involved with a most dangerous lady. Gradually the truth begins to emerge. But is it the whole truth?
Romance and adventure set against the glamorous world of early nineteenth-century Vienna, on the eve of that greatest of all Napoleonic victories, the Battle of Austerlitz….(MORE)
The Snows of Yesteryear
The Second Richard Karelius Adventure
Autumn, 1806. A year after the defeat of the Austrian and Russian armies at Austerlitz, it is the Kingdom of Prussia which stands in the way of Napoleonic ambition. Meanwhile Richard Karelius, gentleman spy, is requested by the Prussian Queen to investigate the disappearance of a young officer on the eve of the war.
The campaign begins badly for the Prussians, as their greatest general, Prince Louis Ferdinand, is killed in the first skirmish. Worse still, it becomes apparent that he died not by the fortune of war, but by betrayal. As Prussia collapses under the Napoleonic onslaught at Jena, investigation reveals the traitor to have been one of the Queen’s four ladies-in-waiting. Matters are complicated by the fact that one of them seems hopelessly in love with Karelius, whilst another is the mistress of his friend and colleague.
Meanwhile Jacques Thiercelin, spy-catcher for the French Grand Army, commences enquiry into events following the shooting of a bookseller for publishing anti-Napoleonic literature. Once more destiny brings him into contact with Karelius. These two men, both admirable, yet cast by fate on opposite sides, close in on the truth, and bring events to a gripping climax amidst the snows of East Prussia….(MORE)
And Meet With Danger
The Third Richard Karelius Adventure
Vienna, 1809. At the end of yet another victorious campaign against the Hapsburgs, the Emperor Napoleon holds court at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Whilst peace negotiations are in progress, a confusing array of foreign diplomats are engaged in spying on one another. Amongst them are the Anglo-Prussian gentleman spy Richard Karelius, and his friend Farkas Aranyos. Add a couple of femmes fatales posing as Karelius’s recent love interest Charlotte von Moltke, plus the genuine article herself, and confusion is rife.
As the French Emperor takes it into his head to play a game of chess against the mysterious automaton player known as ‘the Turk,’ Karelius is persuaded by its owner to conceal himself inside and make its moves. Beating Napoleon is no problem, for the Emperor is a very bad player. Far greater risks are those of discovery, and the near-suffocation involved in hiding within the machine.
No sooner has Karelius surmounted this ordeal, than he finds himself lured to a duel to the death arranged by a woman whose vindictiveness borders on insanity. Meanwhile he has to cope with counter-espionage from the Emperor’s allies, both honourable, in the person of his perennial opponent Jacques Thiercelin, and the more dubious machinations of Joseph Fouché’s secret police. Karelius’s most dangerous adventure yet, with villainous plots against him, both political and personal……(MORE)
His Excellency
The Fourth Richard Karelius Adventure
May, 1810. Amidst the turmoil of the Peninsular War, a travelling theatre lies encamped near Salamanca. Behind its colourful façade lurks Eugenio Cavagnari, centre of a poison web of espionage extending throughout Spain. Whilst behind him stands the shadowy figure of His Excellency Joseph Fouché, head of the French High Police, aided and abetted by his henchman, the appalling Henri de St Clair, and the enigmatic Amerindian assassin the self-styled Remuet, whose very name is an anagram for Death.
Yet there are those who seek to cross His Excellency’s schemes: Richard Karelius, English soldier-spy with the King’s German Legion, himself an enigma – a dreamer obliged to play the part of a man of action; Columbine, the gypsy girl in love with him; and spy-catcher Jacques Thiercelin of the Army of Portugal, fiercely loyal to Napoleon, yet in many ways having more in common with his enemy Karelius than with his own devious allies of the High Police.
Treachery, romance and murder lead to a dénouement unforeseen even by the master of intrigue who set affairs in motion: His Excellency……(MORE)
A Mask Like Castlereagh
The Fifth Richard Karelius Adventure
In the summer and autumn of 1813, the sun of Napoleonic glory is already low in the sky. The French Emperor’s enemies converge on Leipzig for what surely will be last great battle of the war. Amongst them are the mighty: the Czar of Russia, the Austrian Prince Schwarzenburg, and the fierce old Prussian warrior General Blücher. And no less dangerous to his political survival are the devious: Richard Karelius, British gentleman-spy, and his Hungarian friend Farkas Aranyos.
A treacherous plot emerges against the Emperor’s life. Who is behind it? Surely it cannot be Karelius, bound as ever by the moral code of an English gentleman. Aranyos, perhaps? Or the mysterious blind girl whose saintliness occasionally appears to verge on fanaticism? Maybe a French traitor is responsible? As ever, Jacques Thiercelin, chief spy-catcher for the Grand Army, plays a major part in discovery of the truth, as he and Karelius cross swords for the final time.
This, the penultimate book in the Richard Karelius series, not only sees the end of the road for a well-loved character, but the emergence of another, in the shape of a seven-year-old girl. Karelius is still mourning the loss of the last woman in his life when the child brings him further sad news, besides the greatest shock, and joy, of his life. And who is the mysterious ‘pretty lady with black hair’ to whom she refers? (MORE)
One Day of War
The Sixth Richard Karelius Adventure
June, 1815. The Emperor Napoleon has escaped from Elba and leads the Grand Army towards Brussels, his progress blocked by an Anglo-Dutch force headed by the Duke of Wellington, and the Prussian Army under General Blücher.
Against the background of unfolding European conflict we follow the lives of four people in young middle age: Richard Karelius, Anglo-Prussian soldier/spy, recalled to active service in the hope that he may be able to identify a mysterious traitor to the allied cause: his former enemy, Bonapartist spy-catcher Jacques Thiercelin, with whom he forms an uneasy alliance: Charlotte von Moltke, former lady-in-waiting to the late Queen of Prussia, still hopelessly in love with Karelius despite not having seen him for years and fearing him dead: and a dangerous adventuress and meddler in intrigue currently calling herself Margarethe von Stahlberg. Their paths have crossed before, and are about to do so again.
The destinies of these four, and numerous others, work themselves out against an epic account of the most famous battle in history, known at the time as Mont St Jean or la Belle Alliance, but christened by the Iron Duke after the site of his headquarters: Waterloo……(MORE)
Kidnap Of The King
The First Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
Meet Jim Danzig, enquiry agent of Castletown, a man deeply disillusioned with modern life and technology, and remarkably incompetent at handling the latter, for which he has to rely upon his assistant, Judith Hare.
Danzig is employed on what seems a routine security job: looking after a successful racehorse for a few days before it goes to stud.
But the apparently straightforward task blows up in his face when he is knocked on the head and the horse stolen. Matters get worse, as couple of murders follow. Who is responsible for the kidnap and ransom demands, who calls himself by the code name ‘the Tetrarch’? And is he also responsible for the murders?
The first in a series of murder mysteries involving Danzig and Hare, played out against the background of an English country town, and the picturesque if sometimes sinister surroundings of local beauty spot Sandford Heath…..(MORE)
Murder For Murder
The Second Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
Another adventure for Jim Danzig, the Castletown enquiry agent deeply suspicious of (and incompetent at handling) modern technology. He and his partner Judith Hare are called upon to investigate the death of 16-year-old Ryan Kelsall, former pupil at the local independent Grammar School, who met his death by a fall from the top of a deserted multi-storey car park. Two other people associated with him also died recently in obscure circumstances.
Enquiries by Danzig and Hare lead to their joining a local drama group run by former pupils and staff of Castletown Independent Grammar School, who are producing Measure for Measure. Many of the cast are found to have guilty secrets, from mere sexual peccadilloes to an elaborate fraud involving a hitherto unsuspected Shakespeare play.
Not without risk to themselves, an occasional punch-up, and some friction with the police, Danzig and Hare uncover the truth, and the murderer is revealed…..(MORE)
The Suicidal Solicitor
The Third Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
A third case for chess-playing sleuth Jim Danzig, of Castletown, and his partner in both senses of the word, Judith Hare. Local solicitor, millionaire and social climber Stuart Brooksbank, faced with imminent disgrace and financial ruin, has committed suicide. Or has he? His widow and son seem convinced that his death was murder.
A sceptical Danzig agrees to make enquiry, in the course of which he soon encounters an undoubted murder, not to mention an unsuccessful attempt to strangle the deceased’s widow. With little time or ability for modern technology, he sets about solving the mystery by his usual oldfashioned methods: logic, making a nuisance of himself, and a fair amount of luck, plus as ever information provided by his police friend and informant DC Nobby Clarke.
A punch-up with one of the main suspects, taking part in a shambolic Old Boys’ cricket match, and attending a wicca ceremony are all part of the job. At the end, Danzig and Hare as usual emerge triumphant, and a psychopathic murderer is brought to book……(MORE)
The Medieval Murder
The Fourth Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
The latest case for chessplaying sleuth Jim Danzig of Castletown and his young partner Judith Hare at first seems a fairly routine missing person enquiry, in the shape of the disappearance of the best man on the morning of a wedding. The only unusual feature of the affair is that it again involves members of the murder-prone Castletown Grammar School drama group.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, the detective duo soon find themselves called upon to investigate the most gruesome crime they have yet encountered, as one of the actors is horribly butchered by a medieval weapon.
Enquiry reveals that practically every member of the company had reason to hate or fear the victim, posing Danzig and Hare a more than usually difficult problem. And having come to know and like so many members of the company, do they really want to solve it? But further mayhem follows, culminating in another murder. Clearly the culprit has become a serious public danger.
Yet again, and at no little risk to themselves, Danzig and Hare, aided by their perennial police ally ‘Nobby’ Clarke, pick their way through a confusing tangle of clues to arrive at the solution…….(MORE)
Crime and Crime Again
The Fifth Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
Castletown writer Stephen Lincoln is murdered in the front drive of his country cottage on Hallowe’en. Was he simply the victim of a group of trick-or-treaters who turned nasty? The police don’t think so, but after failing to make progress with their enquiries, are reluctantly obliged to ask chess-playing sleuth Jim Danzig for his unofficial assistance.
At the time of his death Lincoln was working on the biography of a local man who won the VC in North Africa in 1942. Has this anything to do with the murder? And was he such a hero after all? Who is the mysterious Major Marco, namesake of the detective in The Manchurian Candidate, who likewise seems to be pursuing enquiry into the matter? What is the connection with successful local prize fighter ‘Chopper’ Canfield? And with a local purveyor of pornographic videos?
As usual Danzig places his faith in old-fashioned (if occasionally legally suspect) methods to solve the case, ably assisted by his partner Judith Hare, who unlike him keeps in touch with the twenty-first century and its methods.
Another murder follows, but yet again Danzig and Hare succeed in their quest for the truth, and bring a dangerous criminal to justice……(MORE)
The Hag and the Hero
The Sixth Danzig and Hare Murder Mystery
Castletown, 2019. A girl reveller, the worse for drink, is murdered on her way home alone after a night out. She has last been seen on CCTV getting into the car of a young professional man married to a woman twice his age. On the face of it a simple if rather squalid sex crime, and easy of solution. But is everything as it seems? For the man in question, hearing of her disappearance, went to the police of his own accord, alleging that upon realizing her condition he gave her a lift home in the interests of her own safety. And despite the difference in age, his marriage seems to have been not only blissfully happy but physically passionate. Indeed his wife regards him as a hero.
Matters become further complicated when the murder proves to be the first of a series reproducing some killings which occurred in Castletown more than half a century before. Are they the work of a lunatic obsessed by ghoulish mimicry? Or is there a secret, more rational motive?
Yet again the matter is brought to the attention of Jim Danzig, chess-playing sleuth, and his young partner Judith Hare, who as ever succeed in uncovering the murderer’s identity…….(MORE)