The Fordhamton Trilogy Series

This is an abridged and much amended version of the book first published in 2011. It still follows the police investigation into the sexual, political and economic affairs following the death of Alan Price in Fordhamton, a small English town. Price is killed when his car hits a brewery dray in a quiet country lane. Although he died of a fatal heart attack his irrational actions were found to have been caused by the discovery of an unknown drug in his system. Suspicion falls on the woman he had lunch with in the Crazy Horse Hotel but she cannot be traced. When eventually located her version of events seem reasonable to Harley; but as he and DC Miles Davis start interviewing those close to Alan Price they find that no one actually liked the man, maybe not enough to want him dead but preferably out of the way. Then grafitti starts appearing in town and someone sets fire to Alan Price’s factory. Harley is promoted to a job in London and Davis continues to suspect that there are more affairs and conspiracies in town than first thought following the death of Alan Price. Such as a fraud in the Bank being conducted under his radar. He continues to dig further to unmask the most unlikely prime suspect behind the graffiti, arson and physical attacks on the Mayor and a fashion model.

All Tim Rose wanted was to get back to the final night of the Bank’s training course at Oates Hall. He had been sent out on a straight forward initiative test. Then one disaster followed another. He was arrested as the Fordhamton Flasher, rounded up along with a van load of vagrants and then taken into custody on suspicion of being an international terrorist. The last occasion as a result of being caught up with Melinda and is involved in a minor Bonnie and Clyde style crime wave. Each time he found himself being sent back to Fordhamton by various county police forces. Finally Judy Collins the local reporter took him home where he succumbed to a fever. The senior Fordhamton Town Councillors were unaware of his problems as they had plenty of their own, starting with Pie Sunday thrown into doubt with the reading of Arthur Brown’s will. His specific requests threatened to expose one affair and lay bare the strange sexual habits of seemingly normal people but none more so than those of the aged pensioner Arthur Brown himself. Tim Rose tried again to return to Oates Hall but it was closed owing to a highly contagious infection. It was assumed that Tim was the unsuspecting carrier and top secret search was instigated to find him. The police top brass sent for acting Inspector Miles Davis to sort out these problems sending shock waves through the police force itself and the residents of Fordhamton who had plenty to hide from him since the death of Alan Price. Finally Tim Rose’s search for home, the investigation by Davis and the finalising of Arthur Brown’s come together in a weird but very wonderful conclusion.

The Fordhamton Arts Festival gets off to a bad start when Lynne Anderson is murdered during Geno Washington High’s production of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound. She is found to have been poisoned during the dress rehearsal. The murder brings Detective Inspector Miles Davis back to town. His new role in Intelligence leads him straight to the American listening post at Oates Hall where Lynne Anderson was stationed. The unofficial investigations by Lynne Anderson lead him to believe that there is subversive activity happening at the school. Suspicion for the murder immediately falls on the organiser Jeremy Hawkins owing to his past as a student activist and known to have been seeing Lynne in the previous week. Lynen was asked to help out as the original cast member had an acccident. Rehearsals continue until there is another serious incident involving the school’s IT teacher and an electric wheelchair. As a last resort Inspector Davis sees that a deeper involvement in the play may help him solve the murder and the secret messages being passed aong the dark net.. He plays the part of the Real Inspector Hound and finds love in the most unusual circumstances whilst finding time to unmask a less than secret political movement.

The three books in the Fordhamton Trilogy focus on the events in a small English town following the death of businessman and local councillor Alan Price. Price’s death unleashes a series of petty crimes, vandalism, arson, sexual and business relationships, a threat to the survival of the local Football Club and a by-election that no one wants. The detectives assigned to the town include a cockney Inspector and a cold hearted Constable who suspects everyone. In the first book, A Little Local Affair Alan Price is killed when his car hits a lorry in a country lane. Although his death was actually the result of a fatal heart attack the post mortem revealed the discovery of an unknown drug in his system which caused his unusual actions. Suspicion falls on the woman he had lunch with but as DI Steve Harley and DC Miles Davis start interviewing those close to Price they find that although no one actually liked him, no one actually wanted him dead. His life and now his death affects everyone in town. The Bank Manager plots a devious fraud with Price’s ex-wife, two councillors begin an affair under cover of electioneering and a faded rock star is tempted back into the limelight. When Harley is recalled to London Davis tries to make sense of the various conspiracies if they actually exist, and finally unmasks the most unlikely villain. The second title Return to Fordhamton follows the journeys of Tim Rose. He is stranded in the countryside on the last day of a management training course. Unable to access funds, new clothing or transport he is accidentally arrested and released for a string of offences some in the company of a young woman who has a personal background of which some details are genuine, most not. Despite all efforts he keeps ending up in Fordhamton and not the company’s training centre. His arrival in town and residents attempts to help him adds to the problems some of its more respectable citizens are trying to suppress following a series of sexual revelations in Arthur Brown’s will. The ethical Bank and Investment Company that employs Rose tries to extricate itself from the scandal and his mistreatment but an infection spread by bats at the training centre adds to their inability to contain any hint of wrongdoing. The trustees of Alan Price’s will continue their affair under the obfuscation afforded by the fact that no one understands what form a memorial to be funded by a bequest in his will should take. Acting Detective Inspector Miles Davis is sent to unscramble the confusion and manages to keep all the scandals under wraps. In the third title The Last Resort the inaugural Fordhamton Arts Festival intended to rid the town of the title ‘most boring’ gets off to a bad start when the stand-in for the school production of The Real Inspector Hound is found dead, very probably poisoned at the dress rehearsal. More accidents occur and suspicion falls on the teaching staff especially the one-time student rebel Jay Hawkins. DI Miles Davis now working with the American secret service is sent to investigate as the murder victim was an undercover CIA agent stationed nearby at a intelligence gathering centre. The Arts Festival includes some bizarre acts and performances which act as a cover for a burgeoning political party. Davis falls in love, finally understands how small English towns work and takes on the role of Inspector Hound in the play to solve the case.