Last Rites: A prison Chaplain is faced with more than the confessions of a dying inmate

by Charles Beagley, Michelle Hessing (Designer)

One might suggest LAST RIGHTS was the swan song of a disgruntled police inspector who not only solved the most bizarre string of serial murders in 'Carter's Boys', but he broke every rule in the book in doing so. Despite a conciliatory promotion, Hammond was determined that Scotland Yard had not heard the last of him.When Superintendent Jack Hammond took early retirement- imagining a new life in the country would be an idyllic and peaceful one-he was not prepared for reality. He didn't take into account he would be left to the mercy of his wife Marjory, and indirectly, a bunch of the most eccentric characters you could ever wish upon Reverend Peter Jay, a scheming, evangelistic vicar; Janet Donald, a pariah of a headmistress obsessed with a gender fixation; Dick Meadows, the jolly grocer, who discovers he has unsettling psychic powers and Arthur Sandhurst, the charismatic real-estate agent. Last Rites is a bizarre crime-thriller preoccupied with past London memories, and has all the intriguing mystery of breaking codes and bizarre clues led by an astute, die-hard retired policeman, forced to work with a bunch of wanna-be amateur crime sleuths. Reverend Peter Jay is the nemesis-interested in solving old crimes and standing in as a prison Chaplain, where an inmates death-bed confession leads the group on a hunt, high and low to uncover an assassin hidden past and give his victims the dignity of the Last Rites.

342 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2018

About the author

Like most children growing up during the London Blitz I learnt how to create an adventurous way of surviving that was better than I had. I lived a pretence during that terrible period that, good or bad, remained with me all my life.
It took the form of making up stories, along with an ability to draw. This ultimately led to me going to Art College, and then an advertising agency in London. During my time with the Irish agency, I was sent to Brussels and Ireland on accounts.
My career was interrupted by the National Service of the time. I spent two years in the RAF, and my experience led to the publication department after my training.
On completing my service, I wanted a change and spent the next few years going from agency to agency until I married. With two sons I had to settle down and formed my own design consultancy.
You may ask, when did the writing start? Well in advertising of that time you had to be a 'Jack of all Trades' which meant me writing my own slogans and copy. This ultimately led to short stories for my young boys and then novels.
I emigrated to Australia in the austere time of 1982. I was invited by a client to take charge of the new packaging side of his business. The offer was too good to resist. And I became more interested in writing.