Writing has shaped every stage of my career, from educational publishing to fiction.  This collection of novels and publications reflects my lifelong commitment to storytelling, creativity and communication.

THE DUKE’S PORTRAIT

Charles Goodgame is a portrait painter who is in love with his stepsister Polly Capstan.  She works for the Duke of Burfaughtonleigh at his crumbling stately home in Gloucestershire. 

Polly invites Charles to paint a portrait of the Duke, but when he arrives, he finds that she has an ulterior motive, a brilliant idea that will make them ‘pots of money’.  The plan goes wrong, of course …

The supporting cast of characters includes aristocratic crooks, a widowed Viscountess with a penchant for Italian waiters, an artist with a guilty secret who is being blackmailed by the alcoholic wife of a theatre impresario and a bank manager who carries handcuffs and a shotgun when chasing fraudsters, but not everyone is who they appear to be. 

All their lives collide in a series of scandals, shocks and surprises that continue to the very last page.

King and Country

It’s 1938.  Artist Charles Goodgame is trying to live a quiet life while the clouds of war gather over Europe, but on a visit to Berlin to see his stepsister Polly, one careless mistake catapults him into a world of spies, lies and danger. The Germans threaten to lock him up for life unless he spies for them. On his return to London, the British secret services make the same demand.

Meanwhile, Charles’s provocative political cartoons are getting him into even more hot water. A shadowy but influential organisation is determined to silence him and ruin his reputation.

Charles must somehow find his way through this minefield of trouble. Can he avoid becoming a double agent and risking his life? And will Polly help him escape the chaos — or drag him even more deeply into it?

A selection of educational publications, course books and teaching materials written or co-authored by me and used by teachers and learners around the world.