Sky High

Shrinking back into the thick Central America Jungle in an effort to obscure himself from the incoming gunfire, Christian Simpkins desperately tried to recall the details of his job description at the Foreign Office.

His errand to Belize was to simply liaise with a man acting as a mediator in discussions with neighbouring Guatemala, as there was a bit of a to-do regarding some recent border skirmishes. The events that soon unfolded, encompassed huge wealth to grinding poverty and orderly civility to outright anarchy. Traffickers, smugglers and bandits vied with overly enthusiastic security services. Jungle greens were the dress of the day, and among this chaos stood one nervous young man in a white linen suit, looking up to the sky above. A grand design was up there, and therein lay hope.

A conceptual novel woven around a novel concept. A sequel to Simpkins previous’ adventures in the Sahara.

Skin Like Snow

Reyne Parker is used to wearing the icy veneer of an elite soldier to mask her mistakes. When a particularly big mistake gets her sent away, Reyne hardly expects to be paired with a fellow soldier who sees straight through her. Will Morrow isn’t keen on immediately resorting to violence, but he doesn’t hesitate to follow Reyne into her own darkness.As that darkness rises, threatening to destroy Reyne and those she loves, can Will rise to meet it? Can Reyne and Will withstand the venomous forces that seek to tear them apart?

Skimmer – Mine

The Skimmer crew have left the Chinese owned GloberCorpMining mineral Harvester to install a new technology on other Skimmers. However, someone is trying to gain access to the technology that has been developed. The pirates may have been infiltrated by a rogue group. Something has also changed on the Harvester. The Sea Hunters become aware of the evolving situation. Unbeknown to Ngarra’s crew, a super weather cell is developing in “the Area”. Isolated and alone, they must find a way to overcome a standoff and avoid capture. Meanwhile, there is a growing urgency to push ahead with completion of the overdrive trials for the Skimmers. Ngarra’s crew are aware that there is much more to the Skimmers than they are led to believe.

Skimmer - Harvest

The crew of Ngarra’s deep sea mining Skimmer are at Xed Ocean Academy under the watchful eye of officials and soon to return to sea. Previously, they had been pursued at sea for a technology one of the crew developed that enabled Xtract mining drones to learn autonomous group behaviour.Chang, a crew member, is convinced his sister Ying Yue is in danger. She works onboard the Chinese-owned GlobeCorpMining deep-sea mineral Harvester and is developing a technology that has the potential to undermine the Skimmer crew program. Chang becomes a pawn that is played by all sides, culminating in a face off at the Harvester.As brother and sister struggle with family history, it becomes apparent that there is more to the Skimmers than the crew is led to believe.

Ski

Magnificent scenery, ostentatious luxury, vicious storms, and unexplained deaths in France’s premier alpine ski resort set the scene for this international crime novel. Western societies have lost their moral and ethical compass. Many people seek escape in luxury, dangers and thrills, beautiful surroundings, sexual escapades, and the opportunity to flaunt conformist norms. Courchevel offers them the perfect escape on every count. But not this year. In search of soft targets, wealthy criminals and rootless terrorists roam the world freely, forming new international gangster bands that buy prestigious buildings and industries and use them to launder money. In Courchevel, international high rollers, abetted by the ruthless Russian mafia and unscrupulous politicians are conspiring to steal the cultural and physical inheritance of France. Terror is their tool. Russian and Japanese businessmen launder massive amounts of money, and displaced American jihadi brides ply the murderous trades they learned in Syria. Only a novice Canadian security agent and a shell-shocked CNN reporter stand between them and their goals. Christmas ski vacations promise escape, but this year the pristine snow hides an astonishing plethora of sordid detritus, greed, conspiracy, and unwarranted death. Global elites ski, play and invest in the most magnificent ski resort in the world. But all is not well. Not even here.

Sitting Down With Evil

West Belfast, 1972. The government has lost control. The streets of Northern Ireland are on fire, with violence escalating on both sides. Lance Corporal Owen Twill is snatched up by the IRA and held captive for ten days. On his release he leaves the army and returns to England, a broken and bitter man, obsessed with visiting revenge on the Provo commander responsible for his injuries.

It’s 2016, and one by one, members of Owen Twill's old unit are dying in suspicious circumstances. When he learns the dark secret behind his betrayal, a chain of events is set in motion, the aftermath of which is felt from Belfast to New York City.

As he tracks down former colleagues, he uncovers a powerful cabal with tentacles that reach to the corridors of Westminster. A conspiracy that pitches friend against friend in a battle to be the last man standing.

Sing Your Own Song

Always an over-thinker and usually risk-adverse, quirky Bernie Hall tries to sidestep life’s looming challenges. But with help from his uncle Richie’s pup and Woody’s insatiable greed for kitchen sausages, Bernie finally meets his long-term crush.A notebook found in the street, and lavish but mysterious gifts galore, change his lonely life for the better. But why? Bernie must uncover his mysterious benefactor quickly, or who knows what else might happen…

Short Shrift

Jonny Hainsworth is an autistic, penniless orphan who lives in a caravan on his auntie’s farm. He never seems to get it right. William Mortensen is an erudite, successful lawyer who lives behind electric gates and has a gardener. He never seems to get it wrong.

But not everything is as it seems.

William Mortensen is dead, slumped over a dank public bench in a rank public park.

In and around this park hover shady characters – warm and humorous yet deviant and debauched. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s life. All of these characters have an interest in William Mortensen’s death.

And now there is someone else interested in William Mortensen’s life. And he is also interested in William Mortensen’s death. No one seems to know who he is. No one seems to know what he is doing. He can’t tell them. The man with no name is mute.

This book is not about class. This book is not about money. This book is not about success. This book is not about failure.

This book is about guilt.

We all carry it. But how do we carry it? And what does it lead us to do?

Jonny keeps asking. But Jonny keeps getting Short Shrift.

Shoot for the Face

Jason Rogers couldn’t remember the last time he had slept soundly. After surviving 20 years in the high-octane world of Russian investment banking, he knew that his time there as the high-flying international banker to the oligarchs was coming to an end.

The bank he’d built from scratch in the 90s, Falcon Capital, his pride and joy, was being assailed on all sides by shadowy forces in Russian society with impeccable government connections, the “siloviki”. To compound matters, his chief risk officer had approved a loan to an oligarch, Ari Kandinskiy, who was down on his luck and had all but gone broke. His efforts to recover desperately needed funds from the stricken oligarch would pit him against powerful interests in Moscow – including Ruslan Akhmatov, the mercurial emissary of Russia’s most troublesome regional governor.

Desperate times would call for desperate measures. Jason Rogers would have to call one final time on the services of Dmitry Ovchinnikov, the Siberian hitman who was a little rough around the edges and dressed like an American cowboy – but who had proved so terribly effective at neutralising his client’s enemies over the years and despatching them to cemeteries all over Russia.

Dmitry Ovchinnikov’s capacity for violence and appetite for dispensing his own, unique brand of “justice” would result in some of Moscow’s most bloody executions in recent memory. It would trigger an orgy of revenge killings which would see the body parts of prominent members of the Russian underworld scattered all over the white tablecloths of that city’s finest restaurants.

Would Jason Rogers come to regret the murderous gang war that he had unleashed on the streets of Moscow? Would he become one of its victims?

Only time would tell…

Shaw Vengeance

Amid an escalating series of attacks, Australian Intelligence Service Agent Max 'Prince' Shaw hunts for the leader of a local terror group, known as The Pilot. Driven to stop the unfolding events, Max is thrown into a relentless pursuit across Australia, from Sydney to Canberra and Melbourne. Willing to do whatever it takes to protect the innocent, Max is ruthless and determined, but conflicted, as he is put on a collision course with his past. He is forced to question how he can live the life he always wanted while being the agent the country needs. Is it truly better to have loved and lost, and what would you do to honour your partner's memory and in the name of love? What lengths would you go to to protect your country and its people? When wronged, and in anguish and pain from loss, can you make it right and find peace and closure through vengeance?

Shallow Water

Private Investigator Agnes Trout once again finds herself investigating intriguing and dangerous cases. After she saves the life of an unconscious truck driver by dragging him out of his burning cab, he decides to engage her services, leading to her coming face to face with a cool, unbalanced protagonist who simply kills to resolve his problems. Agnes needs to use all of her resources to survive a violent encounter with this determined killer.
At the same time, through the designs of a cunning schemer, she emerges as the central suspect in the possible kidnapping and murder of the wife of a client. She mounts her own investigation, which leads her to a surprising and compelling resolution.

Shadows of the Missing

Are you a ‘sneaker’ – meaning, do you immediately flip to the back page, sneak a peek and surreptitiously read the ending before you read the whole story? Just a suggestion – don’t do it! Don’t rob yourself of the mystery, suspense and surprises that tumble around in the pages of this book. This second book of the trilogy, Shadows of the Missing (Whatever Happened to Lloyd?), is certainly worth the wait and promises to keep you hooked from beginning to end, the same way that Not Another Word! reeled you in and kept you guessing. At long last, dear readers, you are going to find out what happened to Lloyd!