27

by Malcolm Holt

In the depressed North East town of Whitemare, pathologist Kettle is used to the routine causes of death. Cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and road traffic accidents are no strangers to his post-mortem reports. Then along comes Lisa Conway, a 27 year old exotic dancer who appears to have died from an accidental concoction of alcohol and drugs. When Kettle carries out the post-mortem, he is not convinced that her death was an accident. When a second death presents with similar characteristics, Kettle finds a connection between the two victims and suspects that someone is creating their own version of the ’27 Club’. He also traces a link back to the death of a close friend’s nephew, who also died in similar circumstances. As he delves further into the connections, Kettle is drawn into a sordid world which could ultimately cost him his life.

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2012

About the author

I left my native Yorkshire and moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1976. One marriage and four children later I am still there. No-one could ever accuse me of just passing through. During the 1990s I contributed regularly to ‘The Mag’, a Newcastle United fanzine, and I also had articles published in the ‘Sunday Sun’, a regional newspaper.
My first stab at crime writing came in 1998 when my novel ‘In the Nick of Tyne’ was published by Falcon Books. A few copies were sold but it has now become something of a collectors’ item. There may still be the odd copy lurking out there somewhere, if you can find one. My first real success at writing came in 2004 and 2005 with the football books ‘Magpie Memories’ and ‘More Magpie Memories’ respectively, both published by Breedon Books.
Late in 2010 I took very early retirement from the day job, working in community mental health, and decided to resume my love of writing. I had always been a fan of the crime fiction genre, so it seemed a natural direction for me. ‘Hard Drive’, my first book published on Amazon Kindle in February 2012, is a collection of six crime stories from Tyneside.
I will be publishing the crime novellas ‘27’ and ‘Red Light’ in 2012 as well as the humorous novella ‘Bulldozers and Dirt’, closely followed by two fun travel books, ‘Boots, Chaps and Cowboy Hats’ and ‘Fishing for Gators’. It will be a busy year.
I write for fun. I'd never make a living out of it.....