One of my readers made a comment to me a few years ago about how much he liked novellas. Ideal he said, for a plane or train journey. So for some time I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a series of stories of less than 30,000 words but with a new character and in a different genre.

I have always liked the detective stories of the 40s and 50s so I have created Frank O’Brian, an American Private Investigator working in New York in 1946. He has trained as a lawyer, worked for the Office of Strategic Service – the forerunner to the CIA – during WWII and after being demobbed become what is known colloquially as a gumshoe.

My intention is to write exciting stories with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing as to who has committed the crime. Also, of course, there’s the added benefit of writing a story without mobile phones, computers, e-mail and the rest of social media. What a heavenly time it must have been! The first story is now available on Kindle. The second is ready to be published and a third is in the pipeline.

I hope you enjoy the first one.

You can download it here from Kindle