THE BOOKS
There are seven books available to purchase - "The Smiles and Tears of Love" an historical romance. "The Diamond Chain", "Curse of Thieves", "Danger Down Under" and "An African Adventure" which are in the Crime/Mystery genre with Major Vince Hamilton as the Private Investogator. There are two more books in the family/war genre - "War Brothers" and the "Tirpitz Legacy". If you click on the 'Buy It' button you will be taken to the Amazon site where you can order the books. Also available in Kindle format.
The Smiles and Tears of Love
ISBN-978-1-4669-5584-4
An historical romance that starts when the heroine, Mabel, learns of the death of her officer husband at Arras in 1916. The story then travels back in time to when Mabel was born in 1872, the daughter of a doctor from a small country town in Ireland. The story relates what it was like to grow up in Ireland in the late 19th. Century as we trace her life from school until she meets her future husband who is based with the British Army in the Curragh, Co. Kildare. As an officer’s wife she travels to the various postings he is despatched to, suffering the misfortunes and trials of an officer’s wife. The Boer War in 1900 takes him away and she has to learn to worry in silence, with her new born baby, as she stays at home while he fights the Boers. A frustrated Mabel gets involved in an affair in South Africa in 1912, which has a tragic ending. The story ends when, after 2 ½ years of anxiety, her husband is killed in 1916 in France. There are plenty of times when she is happy and smiles and, unfortunately, plenty of times when the tears come.
The Diamond Chain
ISBN-978-1-78234-570-1
Major Vincent Hamilton, injured in Iraq and now discharged from the service at the age of 43, is on a flight back from the Middle East to London. He strikes up a conversation with the passenger sitting next to him who asks Vince what he is going to do now that he has to leave the army. He replies that he is thinking of becoming a Private Investigator; which seems like a good answer at the time as he has no idea what he is going to do. That casual remark leads to a meeting with Sir Montgomery Fortiscue where he is given the task of unravelling a diamond smuggling chain which is destroying the Fortiscue business.Vince’s investigation takes him to Holland, South Africa and France, in addition of course to his home base, London. He discovers that the diamond chain starts at a mine in the northern territory of South Africa, continues, over land and sea, through Cape Town and on to the west coast of France. There are vast sums of money involved and murders and mayhem surround him as he moves from country to country. The chase ends in London where the chain is finally broken up with help from Inspector Baird of the Hampstead police. A large number of dangerous people are put behind bars. During his travels Vince has three close encounters of a dangerous kind with the smugglers and is lucky to escape with his life. His army training, as an SAS Officer, comes to his rescue on many occasions.Vince must have been a very good Officer as he is an exceptional Investigator and cracks a very difficult case.
Curse of Thieves
ISBN-13: 978-1500984090
ISBN-10: 1500984094
Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation.
Million dollar motor yachts, high performance cars, masterpiece paintings and high value jewellery are being stolen, in a highly professional way, all over Europe. Local police haven’t been able to catch the thieves as the goods are being moved across international borders. Can Major Vince Hamilton find out what is going on and who is responsible? His brief; to stop more valuable items going missing.
The gang members all speak Italian; so could the Mafia be involved? Chief Inspector Baird of the London Metropolitan police helps until he gets shot. Will the military be up to the task of wiping out the syndicate? Vince is left with as many questions as he has answers.
Read how one man’s persistence and courage can overcome the ‘Curse of the Thieves’.
Danager Down Under
ISBN-978-1516867622
Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation
The new book is his third case and is called Danger down Under.
Vince’s wife wants him to give up being a Private Investigator as it is too dangerous and people helping him are getting shot and badly injured. He decides to go to visit his brother in Melbourne Australia and while there take in the Australian F1 Grand Prix. At the Grand Prix he meets one of his former clients who is with an Italian mobster called Luigi Bandarella. Vince invites them to a barbecue at a friend’s house. The friend is a Pilot and a friend of his brother.
Shortly after the barbecue the pilot and his family are abducted and a plane is stolen from where the pilot works.
Vince volunteers to help find the pilot.
It turns out that the pilot has been taken to fly drugs in from Indonesia and Luigi Bandarella is part of the Mafia.
Vince works with the police in finding and releasing the pilot’s family.
He goes to Rote Island in Indonesia and finds the airfield that the Mafia are using to load the drugs. Vince is shot and wounded quite badly. He is flown back to Darwin to hospital in a Cessna 404 Titan.
The police and his brother find the airfield that the Mafia are using in the Northern Territory to land the drugs.
They surround the airport and wait for the drugs plane to fly in.
There is a major battle involving twelve sharpshooters from the drugs squad, Vince and his team. In opposition are ten of the mafia plus the big boss Luigi Bandarella.
Read on and find out what happens and if the good guys win.
Danager Down Under
ISBN-978-1530660223
Another Major Vince Hamilton Investigation
Another case for Private Investigator Major Vince Hamilton. This time, his investigation takes him to Bulgaria and South Africa chasing gangs that are stealing expensive motorcycles and luxury cars. He and his team come under attack from the Georgian Mafia and a South African billionaire drugs dealer.
While he tries to concentrate on the case Vince has to put up with a monotonous pressure from his wife. She is insisting that he gives up fighting battles against mobsters and retires to look after his family. The fact he keeps getting wounded gives weight to her argument. He also has to evade a passionate woman who is after his affections and his support. Vince is not able to deal with moral conflict.
Will he be shot again, will he overcome the gangs he is up against and can he persuade his wife to allow him to continue as a PI. Read An African Adventure to see if he manages to achieve all his objectives and still keep his marriage intact.
War Brothers
ISBN-978-1-78333-084-3
Born in Lubeck, Germany, in 1917, Markus Bekker is brought up by his mother and his grandparents. He has been told that his father was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.His character is formed during his childhood in the chaotic and hostile environment of post war Germany. The Hitler Youth movement indoctrinates him to a level where he is prepared to give his life for the Fatherland and to obey any orders, whether they are morally correct or not.While representing Kiel University at a rowing regatta at Henley-on-Thames in 1937, he discovers that he has a twin brother and his father is still alive. They are both living in the north of England.In 1939, Markus ends up in the Luftwaffe, and Chris, his twin brother, enlists in the RAF. Inevitably, as fate takes control, they meet in the skies over Southern England with tragic consequences.Read how Markus is captured and starts to question the values that have been instilled in him during his years in the Hitler Youth. After much heart searching, he agrees to work for the British and returns as a spy to Germany to obtain information on their new jet engined fighter.War Brothers illustrates how blood is thicker than water and that fate will overcome all human effort and desire. The love for a brother proves to be far more effective than anything that indoctrination can achieve.
The Tirpitz Legacy
ISBN-978-1-511549936
This new work of fiction from Patrick Slaney is based on the sinking by British bombers of the German Battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian Fjord in 1944. A German SS Colonel leaves the crew to die as he concentrates on recovering and hiding a large amount of gold that was being carried on board.
It’s now 1953 and the Colonel has hired a salvage vessel to recover his cache of gold. Unknown to him the brother of one of the men he left to die in that Norwegian Fjord is a member of the crew of the salvage vessel. Members of the Norwegian Resistance Movement are also aware of what he is up to and they are out to avenge the deaths of their relatives the Colonel murdered during the occupation. Will the Colonel get his gold or will justice be done.
The story is told through the eyes of Hans Gerber who is the brother of the murdered crew man.
Growing up in post World War One Germany is not easy, so at the earliest opportunity Hans joins the German Navy. After an eventful naval career It is not by accident that he ends up on the salvage vessel that goes to recover the gold. It is part of his vow to avenge his brother's death.