I was raised with books - my grandfather ran a mobile library in Birmingham and my parents inherited a random selection of the books. They weren't much interested in them; the books were piled up in a box room, gathering dust. I would disappear in there and resurrect much used classics - Zane Gray 'Riders of the Purple Sage', H G Wells 'The Invisible Man', Charles Dickens 'A Tale of Two Cities' and more obscure stuff that I don't now recall. I was hooked.
There was gap, a long gap, until I was lucky enough to find an inspirational school teacher. He donated his own books to make a lending library in a stock cupboard off the classroom. Kids queued to borrow the books. Except these were the classics - Franz Kafka 'Metamorphosis' and 'The Trial', George Orwell '1984' and 'Animal Farm', Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 'One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich', Ray Bradbury 'Fahrenheit 451', Boris Pasternak 'Dr Zhivago', Arthur Koestler 'Darkness At Noon', Vladimir Nabokov 'Pale Fire', Ken Kesey 'One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest', Aldous Huxley 'Brave New World'.............
I've been an avid reader ever since.
Interests
Writing. Jazz (Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, their modern day musical descendents). Writing about jazz. Science. Travel. Favorite places (in no particular order): Venice, Florence, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, New York, London, The English Lake District, Lisbon, Crete.
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My name is James Blake.
A single act turns my life upside down. I come home to find my wife, Julia, shot and bleeding. She dies in my arms.
The police are no help. I'm sure they're trying to fit me up for the murder.
I check Julia's messages and find just one. It says 'help me'. It comes with a strange, old-looking image of a woman being seduced. It's all I have to go on. That and the fact that someone is trying to kill me.
But I will find Julia's killers, no matter what it takes.
5 star reviews:
'It hooked me from the first chapter and keeps the pace going throughout…..'
'One of the best thrillers I have read in the past year…..'
'A thriller that grips you from page one……'
'Take No More' is fast-paced, 69,000 words, about 260 print pages.
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WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:
An ordinary person is thrust into extraordinary circumstances and must develop the skills to overcome them. In this case, a husband tries to investigate his wife's unexplained death, and in doing so, finds himself thrust into the world of art restoration, priceless works of art, and a powerful Italian family with all sorts of secrets. Most of it is set in the city of Florence, and the author has clearly done his homework -- reading the novel is like taking a trip to Italy.
Check out these great reads:
#samplesunday Delicious recipe for Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Dip & read novel extracts by @TaniaLT http://tinyurl.com/69seyuq uq
#Samplesunday Exerpt from Newly Released" The Kincaid Way" http://ow.ly/4BibF& guest #poet #ebook @betcar1
#Samplesunday delicious recipe South African Babootie and 'The Crossing' excerpt from@Faithmortimer http://bit.ly/atFnJi
I have two one highlighting Alex and one for me.
#samplesundaycookoff this week I'm highlighting wonderful writer Alex Knight http://bit.ly/eAEIax and a Lobster Bisque #recipe PLZ RT.
#samplesundaycookoff http://bit.ly/hQTQq7 Death by Chocolate #recipe and a #thriller. What a fab combo. #kindle PLZ RT
#samplesunday Take No More http://tinyurl.com/5u9nwv6 A great new sample from this thriller #reading #thriller #art #kindle
An excerpt of a ghostly tale from Whispers, by @kj_author being released in May #ghost #paranormal #samplesunday http://ow.ly/4BKyc
#samplesunday A King in a Court of Fools – FREE serialized adventures of a young Tom Ryan.New post-The Caswell Gang http://bit.ly/fG5jpu RT
Cakes and grief. Child of the Portal. by @UKSarahBarnard http://ow.ly/4BNfP #samplesunday #samplesundaycookoff #recipe
