Published works

Fiction

Blood on the Cowley Road (2008)

An art student on-the-make sets up a ‘suicide’ plaque, and within hours Sarah Johnson has plunged to her death from the top of the multi-storey car-park, right in front of his prying camera. Sarah turns out to have a history of mental ill-health, so to D I Susan Holden it looks like a straight(ish) forward case of suicide, but when Jake Arnold, the last person Sarah rang on her mobile, turns up dead in the River Isis, Holden’s preconceptions are thrown into disorder, as she and her colleagues are plunged into a race against time.

Set firmly in the side-streets Oxford, from Cowley Road to the Kassam football stadium, from riverside pubs to a mental health day-centre, Blood on the Cowley Road builds to a startling climax.

Non fiction

The Modern Mercenary: Dog of War or Soldier or Honour (1987)

Based on the personal testimony of individual mercenaries, this account of some of the key mercenary wars and escapades of the twentieth century lifts the lid on the motivation and methods of the men who fought in them. A major book club selection both sides of the Atlantic.

Radio

Bible Tales

For several years, Peter's monologues by Biblical characters were a familiar part of BBC Radio Oxford's Sunday morning show. His "Donkey's Tale" was broadcast on three successive Christmases. For the first time, he is now making available for download some of these monologues.