And yet more to read!

Five years ago I had the idea for my first novel.  I was standing on the veranda outside a bar in Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua.  The bar was French and part of the building that was originally the headquarters of the dockyard.  We had been watching the France v England Rugby and the owner had to ring a bell over the bar  every time we scored.  Despite earlier claims of French superiority, he had rung the bell far too many times for his liking as the plucky 'Rosbif's' gave the Frogs a drubbing.  I was in a good mood.  Beer, sunshine and my yacht moored to the dock a few feet away - perfection.
The dockyard area has been sympathetically restored so looked much like it must have two hundred years ago (apart from the superyachts).  It got me thinking about how modern man would fare in those distant days:

Nelson's Dockyard Antigua, where it all started.

'Jacaranda' was borne.  No novel survives the first idea and the plot developed as it was written.  It was in fact published last year and selling well but I took it off Amazon as there was a chance of a 'normal' publishing deal. In retrospect this was a mistake and so it is now back for sale, as the observant reader will see on the adverts to one side.

However, the next year I was back out in the Caribbean; drinking beer and rum, catching fish and sailing around with Fiona.  We were caught in Martinique just as they all went on strike, followed some weeks later by the other French Island, Guadeloupe.  Something to do with the recession starting and them not getting enough EC (ie British) money to subsidies their lifestyle.  We ended up stuck in the Saintes, the small group of Islands just south of  Guadeloupe.  No money in the cash machines and no food in the supermarkets.  Luckily, we had plenty of fish and rum on board!  I remember asking a local what the hell they were all up to and why Guadeloupe had taken weeks to follow the other island.  His answer was odd,  'Hey man we don' like them, the guillotine never made it to Martinique.'  I mentally filed the remark away and remembered it some months later when back home.  Intrigued, I researched what he might have meant.  There was indeed a fascinating story and even a mystery that remains to this day.  To the extent that the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich asked me to investigate further when I returned to the Caribbean last year.  I will say no more except that it gave me the idea for the sequel to 'Jacaranda'  and so the 'Guadeloupe Guillotine' was conceived.  Personally I think it's my best book to date.  I even had trouble with the proof reading, I got carried away with the story - and I knew what happened at the end!




So, if you wish, they are available as Kindles and Paperbacks from good old Amazon worldwide.  Just one plea;  if you do read them and do like them, a review on the Amazon sites would be really welcomed - its the best marketing tool there is.  Thanks in anticipation and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did writing them.