About this item
If a blackmail letter drives a man to suicide, is the sender guilty of murder? "Yes," says Oliver Swithin, author of bestselling Finsbury the Ferret children's stories and amateur sleuth, who is on holiday in an ancient village._x000D_ A midnight streak with his naked girlfriend -- Scotland Yard's Effie Strongitham -- abruptly ends in the discovery of a corpse. Retired radiobroadcaster Dennis Breedlove has hanged himself from the old gibbet. Evidence suggests blackmail may have driven this celebrity to suicide. Irresistibly intrigued, Oliver believes discovering the dead man's secret will lead to the identity of the blackmailer. But in Britain today, when shame is a ticket to fame, why suicide? _x000D_ What if it wasn't?_x000D_ When the mystery abruptly turns inside out, black-clad strangers attack Oliver in the night.
About the Author
Alan Beechey was born in England and grew up in the London suburb of Hounslow, noted for Heathrow Airport and fin de siecle ennui. He attended the same Oxford college where Bill Clinton famously didn't inhale and studied the same subject as Fox Mulder, only Alan got a better degree, possibly because it wasn't fictional.He moved to Manhattan in his twenties and worked as a specialist/consultant in employee and marketing communications for Corporate America, where he was chained to a rock while his pride of authorship was devoured every morning by an eagle, only to grow back and be consumed again the next day. According to his resume, he was once Director of Staff Communications for Citicorp, but that's probably a typo.The Oliver Swithin mysteries began with "An Embarrassment of Corpses," which The Bookshop Blog included in its list of the "Best 100 Mysteries of All Time," and about which his late mother once raved "I see you used some bad language." Oliver and his entourage reappeared in "Murdering Ministers," provoking his mother's review of "I don't think I'll show this to your aunt -- she wouldn't approve." The third book of the series, "This Private Plot," comes out in May. In her cover letter for the advance copy, Alan's publisher, Barbara Peters, having twice characterized the book as "bawdy," recommends it as a suitable Mother's Day gift. Alan is also the co-author with Gina Teague of a non-fiction book on American culture and values. Apparently there are such things.He now lives with his three sons and his beloved rescue mutt, Leila, in Rye, New York. Feel free to send Alan money directly, thus cutting out the middle man and saving all that tedious time spent in actually reading his stuff.
