Bøker av Peter Larner

An In Memoriam notice in The Times mourns the loss of Sidney Albright DCM, late of the Queen's Own Northumberland Rifles, who served his country in WW1. Except that there was no Sidney Albright. What can it mean? Is Housemartin still alive? Has he resurfaced after so many years? Or is he dead? Perhaps he has been turned.Set after the fall of the caliphate and in the wake of an unprecedented terrorist attack near the Tower of London, the head of SO15 receives contact from a sleeper agent long thought dead. It is All Hallows Eve, the night of a new moon. Is it a trick or a treat? Is Housemartin still active, or is it a hoax?With resources stretched, two new recruits are assigned to move into the former home of the agent to await his return. The pair soon realise that they need to find the link between Housemartin and the mysterious death of a man on the night of the bombing - and they need to do it before the bombers strike again.All royalties received for Pawns will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK.

It is 1964, the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, the Boston strangler, the Beatles and Cassius Clay. In a world caught up with daily news of war trials in West Germany, race riots in the USA, and a bank robbery in England, Peter Jackson, a 12-year-old boy, moves to France with his mother to start a new life after the sudden death of his father. His mother is determined to look to a new future and forget her past life in England, but the locals have other ideas. When a Jewish Nazi hunter arrives at the converted convent that Mrs Jackson bought, her two long-term tenants have different reasons to be concerned and the mystery of the wartime traitor codenamed Saturn resurfaces twenty years on. The past that she longed to leave behind, threatens to become Peter's future. Along the margin-sand is this summer's must-read book - a story that captures the essence of forgiveness, a virtue rooted in the future. And yet this is a story set squarely in the shadow of revenge which, by its very nature, is grounded in the past.

It is only when our unsuspecting hero falls victim to a pernicious act of revenge that Jack Daly realises just how many enemies he has. The mercenary betrayal by work colleagues, the looming birth of his second child and a prophetic warning only serve to frustrate Jack and Italian wife Ludo as their holiday in Sorrento becomes a nightmare that all parents dread. A single, hateful, act of revenge threatens to wreck their marriage and take away their most prized gift, their 3-year-old son Giacomo.Just how many suspects can there be for such a detestable crime? Perhaps more than Jack and the team can handle.In this third Jack Daly mystery, the hesitant hero becomes immersed in the shadowy world of child abduction. As Editor of the specialist magazine Taken he is used to reporting on the disappearance of children to a voyeuristic public. So how will he cope when his day job becomes a dark reality?A man who has nothing to lose is a dangerous man. The only person to send against a man who has nothing to lose, is a man who has everything to lose. So who is to be sent on such a mission? Jack's lifelong friend and SAS officer Tonka Thompson who is facing a Court Martial hearing, or Ludo's artisan Mafia-linked brother Sebastiano? Or is our vacillate hero, the stoical but unremitting Jack, about to face his severest test alone?In spite of the subject matter, this taught thriller is still laced with the subtle observational humour which has become the distinguishing feature of previous Jack Daly adventures Lost in a hurricane and Deathbed Confessions.About the author: Peter Larner lives in Upminster and is a Company Director whose specialist subject is the Romantic poet John Keats. In his professional career Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and often speaks on the subject of road safety. But he draws on none of these experiences in the Jack Daly series of books. He describes himself as a story teller, rather than an author.One press review of Deathbed Confessions described the book as: 'Highly recommended', 'a cracker', and said it was 'begging to be adapted for TV'. Lost in a hurricane reached the top 100 in the Fiction/Humour section of the Amazon.co.uk Best Sellers list in October 2010.

Extreme weather conditions are the result of: A. Global warmingB. Mother NatureC. El NinoD. A global conspiracy by the world's major powers to gain control of the weather.The answer is (D) and it's Jack Daly's job to ensure it remains a secret.But can he do that whilst A. Nursing a mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's diseaseB. Maintaining a relationship with his feisty Italian girlfriend.C. Creating bizarre tabloid stories under the guise of being a script writer for the TV weather readers.D. Avoiding a murder charge.There are no lifelines available to readers of this book. But you can discover how Jack solves the mystery by: A. Reading the book.B. Skimming the book and missing the best parts.C. Taking the author's mates Laurie and Graham down the pub and asking them.D. Stumbling upon the one true clue hidden at the centre of this mystery.

Following a poor harvest, a young orphan boy is released from a life of serfdom and sets off from a remote farm, not knowing what fate or fortune holds for him. The year is 999, it is ten days before Christmas and a dark prophecy hangs over the land, for the abyss is to be opened and the devil released upon the world.Willem's arrival at the small coastal village of Ebbsweirmouth coincides with two sudden and apparently unconnected deaths. Here, he meets Mildred Goodlyhead, the seeker of the dead and finds work with Cyrus Scolop, the offensive and violent fishmonger. Set in Essex and Havering, or East Seaxe and Haeferingas as they were then called, One Christmas Past features vibrant characters such as the butcher, Maggoty Gripple, and the Shire Reeve Oswald Balliwick. It has an engrossing plot based on the universal themes of providence and hope.

May 1940In his first decision as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill despatches a combined unit of Irish and Welsh Guards on two daring missions just one week apart. The success of the first Harpoon Force mission to the Low Countries is well documented. The second results in the Battle of Boulogne, where fifteen of the group are killed and one hundred and seventy-four captured. The rest of the battalion escapes an advancing panzer division and air attack. Eight men are decorated and twelve mentioned in despatches. The objective of this second mission is never revealed. May 2015John Joseph Thompson dies just days before a memorial service to commemorate the Battle of Boulogne and Jack Daly agrees to accompany his grandson, Tonka Thompson, to the ceremony. The friends are surprised to discover how little they know about the old man or the mission that resulted in his capture exactly seventy-five years before. But a chance encounter with a hapless Irishman begins to reveal the hidden and exceptional past of an outwardly unexceptional manGuardsman Jonjo Thompson, a foot soldier in the early days of war, finds himself behind enemy lines. With no support and few resources, Jonjo is on a mission so secret that even he won't find out what it is until he's the last man standing. This is not just a story of heroism. It is a tribute to the innocent tractability and selfless courage of the ordinary soldier. Unexceptional men, made otherwise by exceptional circumstances. Churchill said: "Never give in; never, never, never." This is the story of what happens when courageous men decide not to give in.

An old friend of the Daly family is murdered in a crowded Romford betting shop and yet there are no witnesses. The police are convinced that this is a vigilante killing of a paedophile and the only way to prove them wrong is for Jack Daly to find out who killed Bernie Woolaston and why. The cold-blooded murder triggers a chain of events that takes Jack back to the east end of London - back to that perilous world where his life could be in danger if the wrong person finds out who he really is.Not everybody is who they seem in this fifth book in the Jack Daly series and, in a bloody and taunt ending Jack comes face-to-face with his past.Deathbed Confessions is Peter Larner's most popular novel and followers of the Jack Daly series of mysteries have waited eight years for the sequel. If you liked Deathbed Confessions, then you will love Deathbed Betrayal. Deathbed Betrayal is the tenth novel from Peter Larner and the fifth book featuring Jack Daly, which follows on from the very enjoyable Harpoon Force, but with an intriguing storyline that successfully picks up the threads of Deathbed Confessions.

A bombing in London kills fourteen people. Detective Inspector Ashley Bertoni survives but faces early retirement. His forensic officer, Cally Boyce, loses everything in the explosion - her partner and only love, Tyler, her best friend, Galen and her memory. Cally saw the bomber, but global amnesia prevents her from remembering anything leading up to, or since, the explosion. Special Branch suspect animal rights activists of the attack, but Bertoni is convinced it is connected to experiments Tyler had been conducting into the recurrence of identical DNA. This evidence could reveal a secret shrouded by a vow of silence and buried since the beginning of time.To escape the nightmare, Cally knows that the vow of silence has to be broken and retribution must follow. It is the oldest secret in the world...and the world is about to find out.

Religious fanatics are planning an attack in London. If caught, they will be publicly executed in the shadow of the building they intended to blow up. This is a story of secrets, family secrets and others too, no less personal or deserving of concealment. Some guarded through this life, sheltered like skeletons in cupboards and taken to the grave; others shared by the feeble and faint-hearted and through that sharing put to the test, then exposed - just like the individuals who carried them. This is Shakespeare and Marlowe but not as writers. Forget what you are certain about or what you are sure you know - this is the story of the gunpowder plot. This is the story of Sure Uncertainty.

It's the world's oldest secret..........., and the world is about to find outCovenant of SilenceDavid Hallet is awaiting trial for the murder of Nelson Kosoto, who is suspected of killing Hallet's daughter. He clearly had a motive and his DNA was found at the crime scene, a house that Hallet denies ever visiting. He has no alibi but the murder weapon has never been found.The murder squad and the CPS are confident of a conviction until H division arrests someone else for the same murder. The case against Hallet is collapsing and forensic officer Cally Boyce is suspected of planting DNA evidence. Cally's boyfriend, Tyler Watson, is a brilliantly talented molecular biologist. His own work begins to cast doubt on the reliability of the DNA evidence as a dark, underlying conspiracy begins to reveal itself. Cally is convinced of David Hallet's innocence and that, in Leroy Livingstone, H division has the real killer. But, just when a confession by Livingstone secures the release of the original prime suspect, Cally begins to doubt her own judgement. A chance telephone call leads to a meeting with a member of Livingstone's gang, who convinces her that Hallet may, indeed, be the killer. Meanwhile, Tyler's own work with DNA is in danger of undermining Cally's investigation, but it is leading him towards a dark secret, hidden in the depths of time. It's the world's oldest secret - and the world is about to find out. Can Cally and Tyler break the Covenant of Silence?

Set after the fall of the caliphate and in the wake of an unprecedented terrorist attack near the Tower of London, the head of SO15 receives contact from a sleeper agent long thought dead. It is Halloween, the night of a new moon. Is it a trick or a treat? Is Housemartin still active, or is it a hoax?With resources stretched, two new recruits move into the former home of the agent to await his possible return. The pair soon realise that they need to find the link between Housemartin and the mysterious murder of a man on the night of the bombing - and they need to do it before the bombers strike again.

For the first time, the first three books in the Jack Daly crime thriller series are available in one volume. Lost in a hurricane finds Jack in a web of political intrigue as he joins a strange group of seemingly mad scientists intent on contolling the weather. Deathbed Confessions tells the story of two runaway brothers whose arrival in London erupts in violence. When their story resurfaces forty years later, Jack needs to discover what his late mother's involvement was. And, finally, the Unfolding Path, becomes personal as Jack faces his worst nightmare. When faced with a man who has nothing to lose Jack's Italian wife Ludo decides the only person to send is a man who has everything to lose.

The Covenant Chronicles fuses The Covenant of Silence and The Covenant of Retribution into a single, chronologic story in three exciting parts. This new edition appeals to both new readers and those who have already enjoyed either or both of the books.

Peter Larner did not publish his first book until 2009, with the opening novel in the Jack Daly series of mystery thrillers. Lost in a Hurricane was followed by Deathbed Confessions and The Unfolding Path. The fusion of actual and fictitious events used in Deathbed Confessions, also produced an utterly convincing storyline in the author's historical novel Farewell Bright Star, an imaginative retelling of the first love and last days of the English poet John Keats as seen by his friend, the artist Joseph Severn. In 2013 a new collection of mysteries was created by the author. Covenant of Silence introduced forensic police officer Cally Boyce and her colleague, the ageing Detective Inspector Ashley Bertoni. The second in this thriller series is Covenant of Retribution, a story that establishes Boyce and Bertoni as an unlikely duo, but a force to be reckoned with.

An old friend of the Daly family is murdered in a crowded Romford betting shop and yet there are no witnesses. The police are convinced that this is a vigilante killing of a paedophile and the only way to prove them wrong is for Jack Daly to find out who killed Bernie Woolaston and why. The cold-blooded murder triggers a chain of events that takes Jack back to the east end of London - back to that perilous world where his life could be in danger if the wrong person finds out who he really is. Not everybody is who they seem in this fifth book in the Jack Daly series and, in a bloody and taunt ending, Jack comes face-to-face with his past. Deathbed Confessions is Peter Larner's most popular novel and followers of the Jack Daly series of mysteries have waited eight years for the sequel. If you liked Deathbed Confessions, then you will love Deathbed Betrayal.

Anthony Burgess said that the virtue of historical fiction is its vice - the flatfooted affirmation of possibility as fact. It is possible that Shakespeare met Marlowe, as he does in Sure Uncertainty. It is possible that Marlowe's untimely death caused some of his unpublished plays to end up in the hands of Shakespeare. And it is true, strangely, that William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were born on exactly the same date. Is this a coincidence, or the reason why Will Shakespeare wants to avenge the murder of Kit and prevent Marlowe's godson from becoming involved in Catesby's plot to blow up Parliament? And yet, if the brutal killing of Marlowe was twelve years before the Gunpowder Plot, how else are these two incidents linked?

It is 1964, the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King, the Boston strangler, the Beatles, and Cassius Clay. And, in a world caught up with daily news of war trials in West Germany, a bank robbery in England and race riots in the USA, Peter Jackson, a 12-year-old boy, moves to France with his mother to start a new life after the sudden death of his father. His mother is determined to look to a new future and forget her past life in England, but the locals have other ideas. When a Jewish Nazi hunter arrives at the converted convent that Mrs Jackson bought, her two long term tenants have different reasons to be concerned and the past that she longed to leave behind, threatens to become Peter's future. Saturn was the codename of an informer, working for the Germans in 1944. He, or she, betrayed the resistance fighters who were operating in Berck sur Mer in WW2. That betrayal cost the lives of five young men. Saturn was never identified.

Guardsman Jonjo Thompson, a foot soldier in the early days of war, finds himself behind enemy lines, with no support, little resources and on a mission so secret that even he won't find out what it is until he's the last man standing. This is not just a story of heroism. It is a tribute to the innocent tractability and selfless courage of the ordinary soldier. Unexceptional men, made otherwise by exceptional circumstances. Churchill said: "Never give in; never, never, never." This is the story of what happens when courageous men decide not to give in.

It's the world's oldest secret...... ...and the world is about to find out Covenant of Silence