Cops and Codgers

by John F. Kemp

Octogenarian merchant-mariner Bill Selsey's comfortable retirement with his cat, Barnacle, is shattered when a tree falls on their house during a storm. His attempts to resume his peaceful lifestyle are disrupted when he becomes, inadvertently, involved with protestors who are intent, by fair means or foul, on saving a stand of ancient woodland from destruction. Bill and his, equally old, ex-Purple-Funnel friend, Shorty, have to deal with perfidious activist Diana, the ruthless reporter Felicity, the lovelorn Buster, and his father the devious property-developer Oliver Crump. Further aggravation is caused by aggressive Council Officer Wendy Fyler, the trigger-happy Major Hunter and the chameleon-like Peggy Morven. And don't even ask about the dormice. Matters escalate when Shorty's beloved allotment comes under threat of re-development After several days of unaccustomed stress, during which he feels beset from all sides, Bill believes that matters are moving towards a satisfactory resolution. But has he forgotten about his big sister from Barnstable?

290 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2015

About the author

John Frederick Kemp was a sailor for ten years in UK merchant ships. He then “swallowed the anchor” and, as he puts it, degenerated into an academic. He became Dean of a Faculty, but took early retirement, as an Emeritus Professor, to care full-time for his wife Shirley, who was suffering from Dementia.

The following eight years were challenging, but he coped by observing the humorous side of the events that made up their lives. He recorded these in letters to his GP, because he thought that Doctors generally have sad lives as a result of meeting so many sick people every day. Later, when Shirley had passed away, he wrote this material up as his first book, “Caring for Shirley”.

John is now in his eighties and, supposedly, retired in Arundel, UK, although his new wife, Shirley, says he is usually tinkering with several projects at any one time. The latest of these has been to write “Copse and Codgers” about two octogenarian, retired sailors. These characters, Bill and Shorty, find themselves inadvertently caught up with some militant environmentalists, and there are many twists in a closely woven plot before they are able to extricate themselves.