GROUNDSPEED
A kidnapping with
horrific repercussions

DIRTY BUSINESS
Industrial pollution
 and multiple murder

THE CHINA MOON
A high-flying
espionage tale

GIDEON'S BIBLE
An unconventional
detective hunts
for a UFO

S'END FOR BRADEN
Southend's nicest
private eye

THE GRACE OF GOD
A hit & run, a
blackmailer and a
hungry newsman

EXIT POINT
An autogiro aviator
and a terror plot

THE HOUSESITTER
A human target is lured
to a fatal rendezvous
(coming soon)

STOP LINE
A dangerous genetic
drug must be stopped
(work in progress)

EXCLUSION ZONE
A suitcase bomb on an
underground train
(coming soon)

NINE TENTHS
OF THE LAW
Life on the London
despatch circuit
(coming soon)

Top

THESE DAYS if you want to be a professional, best selling novelist, you need to have more than a typewriter, some talent and a tale to tell. You’ve also got to have a website.

So here’s mine.

I write adventure stories, crime novels and thrillers. But occasionally I try something a little more offbeat.

However, the prevailing orthodoxy suggests that you should find a genre that you can handle, and stick to it. That's why John Grisham writes primarily about law; why Ian Rankin writes primarily about Inspector Rebus; why Lee Child writes almost exclusively about Jack Reacher; and why Clive Cussler handles thrillers, thrillers and more thrillers.

Trouble is, it doesn't work that way with everyone. Certainly, not with me. I've got a mind that generally wants to go in six directions at once. I read across genres and am constantly inspired by great books of all types - and then I want to try something new.

In my youth (which seems to be rapidly receding - along with the hairline and gums) I read just about everything by Nevil Shute (notably So Disdained; Round the Bend; On the Beach; No Highway; and, of course,

A Town Like Alice). I read Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal and was blown away by the structuring and detail. I read Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and had to immediately read it all over again. Then I read Richard (Stephen King) Bachman's Roadwork and just wanted to commit suicide.

I was there when Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes met Dr Watson in A Study in Scarlet. I went on a dozen Lost World adventures with H Rider Haggard's Professor Challenger. Arthur C Clarke sent me into orbit over and over again (tip: read Rendezvous with Rama and weep). And Dick Francis gave me countless hours of amusement with his taut, clever and insightful racing yarns (and I hate with a passion racing of any kind).

All these writers, and many others (such as du Maurier, Hailey, Steinbeck, Rendell, Chandler, MacLean, Hardy, Dickens, Wells,) have had an influence on my novels. It's not always easy to see exactly where, mind, but it must be somewhere in the mix. And I'm discovering great "new" writers all the time.

The result is that there isn't any one genre or style I feel biologically attached to. For better or worse, I go where the ideas lead me.

Anyway, enough already. You can check out the links on the left and read excerpts and samples from my books. Feel free to email me if you’ve got any comments or observations. I’m still looking for a literary agent and publisher, not necessarily in that order, so if you’re in the trade and would like to see more, please drop me a line.

If, however, you’re from a vanity press, save your e-time and
e-pennies. Ditto for POD people.

All the novels featured here are complete and ready-to-read.

I don’t mind updating and reworking to suit a publishing or editorial requirement, and I’ll listen to any well-intentioned criticism.

If, on the other hand, you're a struggling author looking for editing and writing help and advice, you can check out my other site at: www.mr-edit-literary-services.co.uk. The site offers plenty of tips on getting an agent and writing that all important query letter. There's also some notes on how to write a compelling synopsis, plus inspirational pages to help get you in the groove, and keep you there.

Hope you get something useful from this site.

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