https://www.inkitt.com/royjenner

Biography The guts of a good story comes from experience and that is something I have. Let's begin with a half lifetime spent embroiled in every facet of the meat trade, from London's East End and the fabulous Smithfield Meat Market to the Antipodean fleshpots of New Zealand's meat industry. Hands-on experience from the insignificant bacon slicer and display cases of the country's finest supermarkets to the gut rooms and boning tables of Auckland's now nonexistent freezing works and killing floors provides flavour for the themes of my stories. It doesn't stop there. Now consider a further twenty five years involved with New Zealand's top real estate company and the blow-counter blow of the marketing of residential homes and you will be offered an understanding of the source of the ingredients of my novels. I was born in London's East End, dockland, in 1934 and moved to New Zealand with my wife Mary in 1963. We have lived in Auckland since that time. We have four sons, eight grandsons and three granddaughters and now one great grandson and two great grand daughters; where does it end?. I have travelled the world to its four corners and love to include that experience in what I write especially; the three years served in the British armed forces with the Colours. Two of these years involved active service in the Suez Canal Zone of Egypt. My last venture outside New Zealand's shores was to Memphis and Nashville which fulfilled a lifetime's ambition. My love of music and lyric has always influenced my direction with a strong lean towards the works of William Blake, Hank Williams and Kris Kristofferson. In 1983 a challenging career change involved me in the real estate industry. The lack of enthusiasm on the part of publishing companies has never deterred my desire to write. I love to write and now, in a potentially retired situation, the words and stories pour from me to take the form of family sagas and crime novels set in venues worldwide. My work has been well received by my peers and I have responded well to their constructive criticism which has led to a better product. I have recently completed my 13th novel, (The Shadow of the Black Sheep), built around crime and deception on the streets of Auckland. There is never a shortage of those things in New Zealand. This novel and all others are available now for purchase as a Kindle book Amazon. I have produced one published paperback novel - 'On The Lip Of A Lion' which was well received by readers and media and a hard back published in London - 'Lost In Time' - a futuristic while historic mind bender. I'm older now and even more enthusiastic and continue to write for adult audiences with great emphasis on the hearts and minds of my characters. It often happens when I turn the last page in a novel I have remained hungry wanting more - and I use that for a template for my books. I want you to look on me as a purveyor of the written word, a dramatic chef and here on this site I present a smorgasbord of verbal delights penned to satisfy your appetite for good tales with tasty story lines flavoured with the everyday ingredients of life that regularly have us crying in our beer, laughing, wanting, loving. Each one of the 13 novels offered to you here is a ‘chef’s special’ built on my lifetime experiences which stretch from the Blitzkrieg of London when the next bomb to fall in 1940 could well have been the last I would know of - to the bountiful shores of the Land of the Long White Cloud in 2017. I enjoy writing and fill my pages with twists and turns aimed to keep the reader involved and not wanting to put the book down. It is working well up to now. 13 novels that cover the world - places I have been and know about from the sands of the North African desert and the Egyptian Canal Zone - the magic of Memphis and Nashville - the outback of Australia and the whirlwind of its cities - L A and Mexico - the streets of London where I was born and of course the wonder and splendour of New Zealand. Love, murder, laughter, crime, revenge, passion, you name it - it’s all there to be savoured in my pages. Now I invite you to try something different and I welcome you aboard my travel train - a click of the mouse clips your ticket and you are on your way. My stories reflect real-life situations, page-turners filled with people and events that are credible and recognisable in everyday life. If you enjoy devious mind bending crime stories, look no further. It is my aim to leave you satisfied, but wanting more. I’ve not yet heard of anyone who didn’t empty his plate when sampling my cuisine. Thank you. I’m Roy Jenner.

An exciting exposure of life in New Zealand and the world over in 13 heart reaching novels - each available now as a download on amazon.com for US$ 2.99. Crime, mystery, passion, heartache and adventure.

Ten people of senior years reveal the secrets of their lifetimes. Read what brought them to Winter’s Song, a place for the aged and infirm, as they unlock their minds to reveal their personal stories of struggle and success on their journeys through the sensational 20th century. Personal tragedies and world wars left their marks on their hearts and minds. Life was good when we were young and we were never given reason to think otherwise, nor to consider the remote evolution of man such as late adult hood, retirement and futuristic conditions when the leaves would begin to fall from the tree of life. No way, that would be then and we were now and such things were too far away for the young and vital and not worthy of any thought. Old age was for old people, them not us; but how quickly the pages of the book of life turn before suddenly we find we are easing from the autumn of our lives and conceding to the comforting strains of winter’s song to find ourselves looking down and back. Then we are the ones confronted by the truth and the truth is, it does happen and has happened and is happening to us right now; it was happening to Adam Mulberry. Adam bore the label of old really well and had done so since being admitted to Winter’s Song Retirement Village four years earlier. Each of his aged companions had a story, an anthology of life experiences which piece by piece he had slowly extracted from them as respect and confidence grew. It had been hard at first, but gradually for many of them Adam had compiled a file in his laptop. Each was a walking history book which in some cases went back almost a full century and it excited him to know he had been accepted by them. With their permission he had converted that knowledge and documented in biographical detail, a series of short stories, cameos that depicted the change that had occurred in a dozen lifetimes on the converging trails that led people not known to each other to a common destination; Winter’s Song. These are their stories.

His dream was Eden Park - Number 10 jersey. His nightmare Mt Eden Prison - cell block 10. A promising All Black rugby career shattered. A sentence of a life behind bars can do much to change a man’s thinking. ‘A grave miscarriage of justice,’ were the words on the paper the Minister of Justice had handed to Terry Stamp when it was decided after fourteen years of incarceration he had not killed his wife. ‘Go home, my man. Start your life again. You have plenty of good years remaining.’ Yes, plenty of good years to control the bitterness filling his heart and driving him on in his personal quest for his wife’s killer. He and Cavanagh had been married ten years when she was taken from him in a brutal attack by a spurned group of rugby supporters, when Terry Stamp was a name on everyone’s lips whenever All Black football was mentioned. It was a misinformed and foolish man who dared to say Terry wouldn’t pull on the number 10 jersey the next time the All Blacks ran onto the field. It was inferred he might even lead them. Cavanagh’s death changed everything and with the nation against him he was sent to prison. He was found unconscious and intoxicated in his smashed car close to where his wife had died. Her blood was on his clothes. Witness stated they had heard his words that day when he threatened to kill her. Five years of fruitless search has Terry accepting those responsible may never be brought to justice, but the double death of his closest friends in their home opens up an incredible line of inquiry. Ken and Jean Fraser died because it was thought they knew too much, but they died for what they didn’t know. They knew nothing. Terry’s quest carries him to the gates of Maidstone Prison in Kent to meet an unsavoury character who has first hand information on the killing of twenty years earlier. Paedophilic Elliott Page has personal knowledge of the men who raped and strangled Cavanagh Stamp, an act of lust, but also retribution for being punched out by Terry at an after-match function on the night of the murder. Elliott Page has been blackmailing the killer with the intention of revealing all to a ‘glossy weekly’ for a substantial sum. The killer is ready to pay and ready to kill again. Terry Stamp is also prepared to pay and he ups the price. Too many innocent people have died because of these people and he is too far into this game now to quit. He knows they were responsible, not for Cavanagh’s death alone, but also for the death of his friends in Auckland. The trail of death and destruction widens as Terry follows the killer back to New Zealand and calls for settlement on a long overdue account. In the twenty bears since being falsely accused several people at that after match function in 2016 have aspired to responsible positions in the legal profession and in the field of New Zealand Rugby Union. When Terry Stamp starts to turn over stones certain individuals start to rock on their pedestals and Terry vows to be there when they come tumbling down. Terry needs no help in his venture. He has nothing to lose and has dreamed about this day of reckoning for twenty years. The scene grows decidedly ugly when he finally ‘takes his guns to town.’ This is a graphic account of a lonely man, wild in his sorrow, and hell bent on revenge. There are many intriguing characters as Terry is ruthless in his desire to pay back just a little of what is owed.

World War 2, 1940. For 76 consecutive nights Adolph Hitler unleashed the fury of his Luftwaffe on Britain’s largest city in a nonstop hail of bombs that had helpless civilians wilting under their blast. Step Green was three weeks old and his sister Tess two years when the Green family of eleven siblings sought refuge from the bombing and in desperation were evacuated from London’s East End and dispatched to sympathetic countries of the British Empire to evade the Fuehrer’s wrath. 77 child evacuees drowned when a German U-boat sank the ocean liner City of Benares on which they travelled. Having been assessed as being too young to travel, Step and Tess were sent to East Anglia to live with an aunt where they were reasonably safe from the war, but never safe from death which lurked in the hedgerows of Poplar Farm. Tess was brutally killed and at twelve years of age Step’s loyalty and love for his sister committed him to a lifetime of retribution during which he travelled the world to satisfy his childhood vow to avenge her death. The killer was punished by the courts, but ‘never enough’, said Step who pursued that killer, released under a new identity along his trail of freedom to Auckland New Zealand. It was there Step learned to love and to forgive and begin a new life with a brother he thought had perished in a dramatic action on the high seas. With murder and arson in the headlines of Auckland newspapers it was judged Step Green had administered his own version of justice. Throughout the trial he refused to plead his innocence and was committed to Mt Eden Prison for life. Guilty, or not guilty? You be the judge.

It was too late for introductions. You don’t shake hands with a dead man; especially one who has had the fingers and thumbs of both hands severed at the first joint. Phi Rudolph Auckland CID knew he had the job ahead of him as he took stock of Anton Clegg Chairman of the Board of Air-Chill Cold Storage strapped in his chair in his private office at 3am on a disturbing Sunday in the middle of winter. Here was a man who was going nowhere other than the morgue from a place that resembled an abattoir more than a cold store.Chief Inspector Philip Rudolph didn’t need a coroner to tell him Clegg had used up his life’s supply of group something blood. There was a gory trail of investigation ahead for Auckland's top policeman. Prime suspect Greg Parkinson was drunk enough and sober enough to leave his car after a Saturday night birthday binge and wander into the loading bay of a city warehouse for shelter. He heard somebody’s death cries and stumbled upon the butchered body of Anton Clegg. Clegg who is a white collar criminal who excels in misappropriating investors funds. The question had to be raised -'Is it Anton Clegg? His identical twin brother is knight of the realm Sir Alexander Clegg, philanthropist. The two are often mistaken for each other. Who was the one slain in that Auckland City cold store? No fingers means no fingerprints which makes it hard to confirm the identity of the bloodied remains. Sir Alex was in Brunei on business which further frustrates immediate identification. And so began the chapters of corruption, murder and suspicion. Anton Clegg was not unknown to Greg Parkinson who with Clegg’s blood on him was the immediate suspect. It was one of Clegg’s investment companies those years before that had eaten up in excess of a million dollars of Greg’s money and in the process destroyed his marriage. ‘I was Taken by Experts,’ Greg told the police who were keen to connect him to the crime in the cold store. This story is more intricate than that, however, with a string of dead bodies and savage deeds reaching from the Eastern Bay of Plenty to the Bay of Islands; from Hamilton City in New Zealand to The Rocks on the waterfront of Sydney. The strange happenings at The Stables, the home of Sir Alex add spice to a story which has leading characters disappearing with Sir Alex himself, succumbing to a stroke which leaves him immobilized. He is then at the mercy of discriminate people such as his head groom Benjamin Scully and his personal physician and surgeon John Delmage. Add to the mix the devious dealing of barrister Wolfgang Blauner who has clear intentions of redirecting the entire content of the Clegg empire into a private funding account which will be shared by a select number of operators. The mystery deeps and suspicions are raised with the disappearance of Sir Alex Clegg’s housekeeper, Yvonne Barns who has been his personal friend and servant for twenty years. How dangerous, or how harmless is Wannenburg Morne, the square-headed South African ex rugby player, master carpenter and cabinet maker, whose face had been rearranged so many times in the front row of the scrum his own mother would have had difficulty recognising him? Answering only to the name Shark, his service in the French Foreign Legion has fine-tuned his hard, unforgiving nature which never encourages long friendships. He conforms well to the job description laid down by the main players in this game of life, death and elimination. This is an exciting plot of extortion and corrupt activity; fast moving and seething with interesting characters trying hard to remain alive. All are members of the hardest school of criminals who know better than to turn their backs of those working beside them. Twists and turns will have you guessing through to the last pages. This is vicious crime at its most ruthless executed by hardened criminals who allow no one to stand in their way.

From London to New Zealand Laurie Davidson spent twenty five years travelling the world with his guitar pumping out his music as a busker on the cobbles and in the markets, wearing the personal injustice heaped upon him like a badge of honour. There was no other way. He was a proud man and took the social rejections on the chin, picked himself up and was straight back into it. When down and out there was but one way for him to go and that was up and he wouldn’t be stopped. Four years of prison was a hard school for a young man who lost most of what he loved when punished for a crime he did not commit, but he came to realise the friends who remained at his side were true friends who loved him in spite of what he did, or didn’t do. Caught in the act in front of an empty safe with a hold-all containing £48,000 at his feet, a security officer unconscious and bleeding in an alleyway; there could be little argument. It’s a fair cop, guv’ner. None the less the presiding justice failed to be impressed by his plea of ‘Not Guilty, m’lud’ and was further disturbed by his lack of remorse when handing down a sentence of 5 years. Forty years of Laurie’s life are exposed in these pages as he battles with honour and trust in a stirring family saga that puts loyalty and forgiveness to the most demanding test. Rejected by society he chooses to leave England in search of the man who took the lives of those most dear to him; that he might find the strength and understanding to forgive him. Journey’s end is in New Zealand and it takes twenty years of experience and learning for him to return to England and fulfil what he knows to be his purpose in life.. His best friend saves his life and uses that act to betray him and condemn him to 5 years prison. Laurie Davidson rises above that and uses the hardest experiences of life to fine tune himself into a forgiving character whose love for people and music transprts him 10,000 miles around the world in search of the man who killed those most dear to him; that he might forgive him and cleanse his soul.

This edition abridged and revised 7 March 2017

Kidnap and treachery on the streets of Auckland. A TV personality scoffs when Santa says he will take his daughter and place a ten million dollar price tag on her head. Mr TV laughs on the other side of his face as Santa keeps his word and delivers his present of fear.

Enjoying a respite between marriages, TV personality Kris Nevan is reunited with his teenage daughter at the height of the Christmas season. Nevan is rich, successful and invulnerable, so he thinks. He is almost offhand in his down-playing of an ominous threat to separate him from his daughter, and his money from his bank account. He is soon to become acquainted with the force of evil lurking behind the facade of a pantomime clown who, in the guise of Santa Claus, blatantly snatches the girl in an audacious act of villainy. Mortimer Kingsley, also known as Sunbeam the Clown, is the Gaffer, an ex-patriot Brit and vaudeville star, whose broken heart is held together by scars of bitterness and retribution. He and his select band of thugs have systematically plundered banks and payrolls with huge success in Auckland, hiding behind pseudonymous identities such as, Browser, Scales, Mags and Sailor and the Gaffer. Add to them thug and locksmith QC and the enigmatic Matron; part woman, mostly man. They have Nevan's daughter and as planned they get their ten million dollars. The Gaffer is a generous, but hard master and those who make mistakes in his organisation pay the ultimate price. But mistakes have been made and a trail of devastation is uncovered to take the reader through the length and breadth of New Zealand's North Island, out onto the Waitemata Harbour where the ranks of the Gaffer's team are depleted in a serious act of housekeeping on his part. There is death on the high seas and death in the suburbs of Auckland as the Gaffer seeks to right things that have gone wrong for him. The perfect crime is suddenly not as perfect. His efforts to eliminate an eye witness to the kidnap go terribly wrong. Newlywed Annie Elliot is unaware she is being hunted by the most notorious, and anonymous criminal in New Zealand. The Gaffer is too smart to allow her inadvertent appearance at the crime scene to interfere with his plans and he personally takes steps to ensure this one loose end is tidied. With the deed done, the ransom paid and Nevan's daughter returned the Gaffer feels secure in his bunker at Part-Time Car Wreckers in West Auckland. He celebrates Christmas in a traditional wave of nostalgia. All that could go wrong has gone wrong and has been remedied. The time had come to relax and consider his next run of adrenalin brought about by living his life on the lip of a lion. In his complacency he is unaware the net is closing on him and his fellow criminals. The violence begins as the scales of poetic justice tip one way and then the other. All hell breaks erupts at the Part-Time wrecking yard as discounted underlings break ranks and express opinions. It is suggested amid the fire and the fury that follows the curtain has come down for the last time on Sunbeam, the pantomime clown; but has it? Mortimer Kingsley has cashed up and is ready to move offshore and it is never clear who it was who died that Christmas morning in West Auckland. One thing is sure, it wasn't Father Christmas. Maybe it was somebody pretending to be Father Christmas, but isn't that what normally happens?

Treachery and greed in the suburbs ofAuckland, New Zealand

Ned Newman – potentially retired real estate agent and frustrated writer is an insignificant character in this tale of intrigue which thrives on the devious and life threatening actions of a select band of ruthless individuals inspired by a common ingredient; greed. Unknowingly Ned has become the thorn in the side of one of New Zealand’s richest men, Eric Dunsheath, who by his own admission will stop at nothing to fulfil his goals and dreams. Eric is a vertically challenged male from the wrong side of the tracks; a dwarf with an IQ of 191. At an early age as an unwanted child he chose to leave the orphanage where his superfluous being was deposited at birth, for life on the streets. He lived rough until his cunning led him to fortune. Riches are his; millions. Eric is aware his life expectancy is short and is ready to make the world pay for the manner in which it has treated him. Unfortunately for Ned Newman, Ned is in his way. Ned’s weakness for the opposite sex serves only to lead him deeper into a web of premeditated deception designed to systematically destroy the neighbourhood in which he lives and bring his hopes of a peaceful retirement crashing to the ground. Anyone who dares to offer an impediment to Eric Dunsheath’s master plan, either knowingly or unknowingly, will suffer the same fate as the beautiful Amanda and the ruthless gay-guy Alex whose devilish counter plot spirals to an unimaginable finale. But Eric himself is a target. Is it possible to capture a person’s identity, relieve them of all worldly goods without raising suspicion, or give a hint to an outside world of any wrong doing? There are those who know it can be done and make it look scaringly easy. People like Alex Knott, a notorious Auckland business man who graduated from the ranks of common thuggary to command a personal empire of organized crime. He and his well drilled team of professionally qualified crooks work systematically towards their pot of gold which contains every dollar and every bar of gold Eric owns. Knotts associates are all highly skilled in their own field; an accountant, a real estate agent, a actress with the incredible art of mimicry and an ex Sumo wrestler Russian woman who is installed as Eric’s housekeeper. We are presented with a three sided circumstance of intrigue as Ned Newman innocently frustrates the efforts of all parties, mainly Eric Dunsheath and Alex Knott. Both men decide Ned is surplus to requirements and though people die and houses and apartments burn in the exclusive suburb of Point Chevalier, Ned Newman lives on. As a defiant spectator he survives the advances of seductress Elizabeth and the desecration of his home in Shallows Lane. Devious characters with unscrupulous actions are ready to move on Eric with an infallible scheme of seizure and extortion. Where will Ned Newman feature in the process and what surprises doe Eric have for everyone concerned. There could be big winners in this battle for Shallows Lane; but it is conceivable that Nobody Wins.

Charlie Lampton was a star; Master of the House and as he proclaimed on stage, ‘the best innkeeper in town,’ but he was a slave to his destiny as he lost his wife through a ruptured marriage, his house through the pressure of a massive mortgage and everything he owned to the hands of thieves. With life at its lowest things were destined to get worse when his best friend and theatrical understudy died in suspicious circumstances. It was then a chance meeting with retired Sydney police detective Stephen Haynes restored Charlie’s faith in human nature as the two work together to salvage love and logic from the shattered remains of a brilliant career. It all happens Downtown Sydney - The Rocks - Circular Quay - Stephen Haynes, a top police officer whose overindulgence in everything resulted in him degenerating to a high degree, returns to Sydney after a rehabilitating experience on the hills of Tibet. His double agenda has him in town to sell his assets and reunite with his daughter for her twenty first birthday. The indiscretions of earlier times have been lessons in life for Steve from which he has learned well and the years spent on the slopes of the Himalayas have fashioned him into a new and wiser person. Now he is in control to consolidate his relationship with his daughter, sell his property and return to Tibet. At breakfast he meets Charlie Lampton, thespian, who has a leading role in the top musical production in Sydney. Charlie intends to quit the show at the end of the season when it moves to Perth; which is now. There are too many ghosts in Perth for Charlie. Steve and Charlie strike up a sound relationship and Steve learns of the misfortunes that have befallen the actor. His best friend, and understudy, Leslie Due has gone missing from his home in mysterious circumstances and Charlie’s actress wife has run away to New Zealand with her leading man. Charlie’s house has been burgled and everything he owned has been taken; even his car from the garage. He is left only with the clothes he wears. Steve Haynes explains to Charlie it is only a matter of time before all these problems will be solved by the police and those responsible taken to task; except for the wife problem which is a matter of the heart. Charlie tells Steve he has little faith in police methods for there has been a nil result until now. Steve decides to help Charlie when Leslie Due’s broken body is recovered from the motorway and is placed in intensive care. Leslie Due’s daughter arrives from London and it is her decision to terminate the life support which sustains her father. The story takes a three way split with Steve reconciling with his first wife and mother of his daughter. Steve solves the intricate case of home burglary and theft; and Charlie becoming smitten by Lisa Due, daughter of Leslie. Charlie and Lisa first meet at her father’s funeral where he is amazed to learn of her true identity which is Leanne Page, the leading film actress and Oscar winner. Charlie is smitten by Leanne Page; movie star supreme. Steve Haynes becomes further involved in the investigation of the murder of Leslie Due and with his expertise is able to end the inquiry with a satisfactory conclusion. Follow Steve as he uses advanced skills of the mind to pick apart the seams of two ingenious conspiracies. Strong characters and two crafty plots intermingle in this Sydney-side mystery. Here we have a stirring story of the heart, overshadowed by murder and intrigue in the shadows of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Charlie Lampton, star of the show, answers the cries of his heart. He forsakes his place in the footlights in the musical extravaganza of the century and surrenders a place in the cast; a role which he declares is, ‘Something to Kill For.’ For Charlie, a cat looking at a king, there is hope of a fresh start and new life in the responses of movie queen Leanne Page; a fresh start too for Steve Haynes. Maybe he won’t return to Tibet.

Retired Chief of Detectives Phillip Maynard finds life difficult to handle following the death of his wife after forty-five years of marriage. After waking in hospital from a near-death experience, he is told a young man brought him to the emergency department. Of course, it could only be young Robert Gardener, whom he had met recently. Keen to repay Robert for saving his life, Phillip goes to Robert's home to meet his mother Andrea.

When accused of trespassing and told that Andrea Gardener had passed away months ago, Phillip cannot fathom this situation.

Robert is in search of his father, an RAF Squadron Leader and Battle of Britain pilot. Robert knows his dad is lost and not dead and asks for Phillip's help to find him. Phillip Maynard is now a man given the power to travel through time and possibly change the course of history with startling consequences.

Spoiler! 

The stirring sequel to The Bringing Down of the Hawk,. A gripping story involving industrial espionage in New Zealand and the effect it has on the lives of Auckland business man Ted Starling, his bride to be Dawn Graham and those close to them. The opening chapter involves German fighter pilot ace Broer Altschul and describes the events that led to his relocation to New Zealand following his capture in North Africa. Dawn Graham, the founder of her own design and fashion organization, working only in New Zealand wool products, unknowingly becomes the target of lightning sketch artist Altschul who has the ability and means to reproduce her exclusive designs and present them to the New Zealand market before her own marketing processes can be established. Ted Starling’s failing heart induces him to make drastic decisions in his life and we are introduced to New Zealand bushman Ryan Elliott in the backwoods of Taupo who becomes the donor of the life saving organ. Many of these characters overflow from the previous book and this story deals with the strength and love between a male and a female in more mature years of life. It also deals with the private lives of unscrupulous characters such as Altschul and his conniving colleague Slade who are the parasites of life who choose to grow fat from the pickings from people such as Ted and Dawn. Dawn Graham’s designs are under threat as copyright thieves threaten her industry when she is most vulnerable with Ted in a life-or-death situation. Ted becomes the recipient of a new heart and this story exposes the personal feelings of those involved as relatively the subversive attacks on the structure of their lives take second place. Ted recovers and he and Dawn marry bringing into the story characters from the past who have always stood by Ted in difficult times. Ted’s character is tested when Dawn conceives a child she is destined not to carry for nature’s full term and heartache and despair tear the story line apart. In a personal grief Ted forsakes everything and everyone close to him, but eventually finds the strength to seek the comfort from long time family friends. With his replacement heart failing he understands he has been on Borrowed Time and undertakes to reveal a few personal secrets and straighten the record. What do we have here? We have a story of love, of loyalty, of failure and extreme success and of course, recrimination. We have a story of villains who become victims of their greed and pay the ultimate price. Borrowed Time portrays in historic detail the lives of a potpourri of characters who are influential in the directions the lives of Ted Starling and Dawn Graham take. Ted eventually is faced with the ultimate test and takes his Maker to task for the troubles inflicted upon him. He seeks refuge in his Church in the Wild Wood and emerges with what to him is total understanding, having made a vital decision. Travel to Kansas to Nashville, to Northern Ireland, to New South Wales and get into the minds and hearts of the good people and the bad, whose personal schemes and actions tip the balance first one way and then another as Ted Starling continues to survive on BORROWED TIME. His successes derive from his belief in love, justice, loyalty, honesty, integrity and self-sacrifice; his determination for vengeance derives from his desire for justice for others.This book is a spoiler for The Bringing Down of the Hawk. It is recommended the Hawk is read first.

Do you want crime? New Zealand crime? You have it here in spades as terror and violent death is loose in the Catlins of the South Island. An animal’s only reason for killing is food. This Catlin’s killer is not an animal, but a monster with another reason to kill. What is that reason? Gloria Stuart’s dead body is found in her home, a remote farmhouse in the Clutha Valley; brutally murdered, stabbed to death in a savage attack. In the main bedroom the unconscious form of her husband Angus is found, covered in blood and reeking of alcohol. The jury’s verdict was concise, delivered in a short time. Guilty as charged; life imprisonment said the judge. The one child of this marriage was son Andrew, sixteen years old and in his first year of extended study at University. Since the cradle father and son had been at odds with each other and on many occasions as Andrew reach adolescence Angus had invited him to leave home. ‘Don’t come back, ever.’ With the death of his mother Andrew had more reason to hate his father. He broke from school and travelled the world. Angus served fourteen years of a life sentence before being freed. He returned to his home, the scene of the crime on 200 acres of land. After a week following his release he was found hanging in the hallway of the house with a note asking his son for forgiveness. Andrew’s love for his mother was unequalled. He returned with bitterness in his heart unable to forgive. His purpose was to claim his heritage and sell the land with its derelict home, but he is puzzled by the fact someone has been tending his mother’s grave since the time she was laid to rest. Andrew finds death and fear stalk the valley. The Otago towns have been troubled by the disappearance of children and strangers are met with the same distrust as that extended to locals. He finds his land is a sought after commodity and stalls over an offer from a local land baron who has had ownership of the land on a perpetual lease since the killing. Andrew is reunited with his sole surviving relative, Blind Robbie, a blind banjo picking grandfather who settled in the Catlins as a pioneer in the days of steam and logging. As Andrew learns of his family history from Blind Robbie, the ‘house of secrets’, on the banks of the Clutha, burns. Andrew is drawn deeply into another disappearance which threatens the new relationships he is establishing. Blind Robbie’s tales of early New Zealand are enthralling and Andrew learns of an uncle he never knew who had left the district hurriedly before Andrew’s birth. Andrew is introduced to a lifelong friend of his father, Jack Johnson, and their relationship endures the fear and distrust that lurks in the Catlins and surrounding areas. From Jack, Andrew learns much about his father and is in turmoil as he considers his past and the temptation to alter his opinion about the man he called father. Rebecca Johnson, Jack’s daughter, has never recovered from the trauma of her fifteenth birthday when her twin sister, Rachelle, disappeared on a routine shopping trip into town. No trace of Rachelle was ever found which added to the horror of local legend. Andrew is attracted to Rebecca and she to him, but he is unable to breakdown the barrier of distrust that has existed between her and society since Rachelle’s disappearance. With demand for his land growing and attractive cash offers being made by other sources Andrew decides to sell, but is sucked into a vortex of horror as an old school friend disappears. Both Banjo Robbie and Jack Johnson know the secret of the Stuart home and this story reaches a climax when Andrew Stuart comes face to face in terrifying circumstances with the perpetrators of the horrendous crimes that have plagued the Clutha Valley for twenty years.

Heartache and double cross in New South Wales Australia. Brad Mason had never known a father’s love. Whenever he raised the question his mother’s answer was always the same. ‘He was a good man.’ Tilly Mason was a hooker on Kings Cross. Brad left Sydney on her death to seek seclusion in the outback. Trees, a paddock, a stream, no electricity, and no people, all this enabled him to fulfil his dream; play guitar and paint. His landscapes were good. Lester Arnold, an ex-patriot Nashville musician, recognised the potential of Brad’s paintings and displayed his work in his steak-house on the Princes Highway. Success created new friends for Brad. He was welcomed into a world of country music, romance and intrigue. Laurie Anderson was a Sydney police sergeant on late shift when attracted by smoke billowing from a boarding house on Darlinghurst. He entered the burning building and rescued a young woman, left her on the road and returned to the flames to save her companion. Tilly Mason watched as firemen carried Laurie from the blaze and was by his bed the day the bandages were removed from his sixty five per cent burns. She was not repulsed by the synthetic mask that was now his face. For Laurie the prospect of rehabilitation was long, but Tilly was there and supported him. Tilly continued to work at her profession, but stood by Laurie, and fell in love. When she lay with him she saw only the beauty within, but would not give up her profession and continued to do what she did best. Laurie grew strong enough to re-enter the work force. His reputation as a police officer bore him in good stead for a position with a security company. His daily routine saw him responsible for the collection of large sums of money. Life continued to be cruel for Laurie, but acceptable he lost the one thing in the world he cared about. Tilly died and left a legacy that tested his emotions to the full. She revealed she’d had a son by him many years before; her only child. The boy had no knowledge of his father. His name was Brad, a young man, running from life, grieving over a lost mother and yearning for a father he didn’t have. Laurie Anderson, a ruin of a man, became inspired by the search for his son. They were two torn individuals, each a vital character in a twisting tale of romance and intrigue. Enter Nick Burgess, a Sydney property developer renowned for his orchestrated failure of investment companies. Well engineered legal representation had seen him defy conviction. As a law-enforcer it was Laurie’s personal crusade to bring Burgess down. Laurie set up a meeting and used the developer’s greed to invite Burgess into an elaborate money-making scheme. Laurie convinced the man nothing could go wrong. Something did go wrong. Laurie Anderson, a senior security officer was convicted of theft as a servant. He walked free three years later to find Nick Burgess and his team of thugs waiting for him. There followed a battle of wits as the authorities and Nick Burgess competed for the millions of dollars missing four years before. Brad Mason was coming to terms with life. He no longer felt alone. The time he spent with Lester Arnold and his wife Alice became special. They welcomed him into their circle where the joy of country music opened up a new world to him. Lester explained how music was an hereditary trait. As fate guided father and son nearer to each other Brad was forced to ask of himself,– “Did my father play guitar?” This was an innocent question to which he would be handed the answer, once Laurie Anderson had settled his score with Nick Burgess.

 Fifty years of passion and intrigue, heartbreak and devotion are exposed as a father and a son grow together as New Zealanders to form an inseparable relationship. Their story crosses five continents and five decades to culminate in a powerful, well planned and particularly personal act of retribution. Young Teddy Starling had been distressed by the death of his mother in Flying Bomb attack that destroyed their home in South London, but was compensated when reunited with his father, thought dead in the African desert. Teddy Starling the boy grew to Ted Starling the man and life was good for the Starlings in Auckland. Eddie’s time in uniform in France and the desert is well documented as is Ted’s, as he matured to serve his two years for the queen in her khaki uniform. Exciting things happened in Egypt that re-established old relationships. Out of uniform once more Ted dedicated his life to that of his father and newly found friends in New Zealand. As a successful businessman Ted travelled to Sydney where he was is devastated by the sudden death of his father while away. On his return Ted decided his father, Eddie, had lost his life in suspicious circumstances and Ted’s one reason to live was to expose the one responsible. Ted’s plan is powerful and intrinsic, but became frustrated when he learned he had a terminal heart condition. He was advised his life expectancy was not sufficient to bring his adversary before the courts. His endeavours were further disrupted when the 1987 stock market crash claimed the life of the man he despised. Ted Starling recognised this death as fait accompli and now alone in the world he was satisfied his life after fifty years was at an end. Now the inexplicable happened; Ted fell in love. Dawn Graham, stunningly beautiful, ten years Ted’s junior and alarming rich and successful in her own right was smitten by Ted and failed to understand his reasons for rejecting her. Their story is a golden thread running through this family saga which is filled with delightful characters, visits colourful locations in Australia and New Zealand and explores local culture. It describes in detail The Bringing Down of the Hawk, how and why. It is a tale of love and laughter, of dedication and loyalty, pain and passion that reaches from London’s East End through to the wilds of New Zealand’s North Island to domicile in Auckland City. It lingers in the outback of Australia’s Snowy Mountains, the bustle of Paddy’s Markets and the fearful iced terrain of Mount Erebus. It is a powerful family saga in which life and death fail to discriminate

.