Jack Mowgley is anything but an ordinary copper. For starters, how many police officers have 'ACAB' (All Coppers Are Bastards) tattooed on their knuckles? Or get booze and baccy supplies by smuggling them through the continental ferry port he is supposed to be keeping free of crime? Or dispense sometimes very rough justice without troubling the courts? For these and many other reasons, Inspector John 'Jack' Mowgley is a very different detective.
He also finds the rules and requirements of political correctness a closed book. After proving a great disappointment to his wife, a painful divorce resulted in our flawed hero being dispossessed of his home in Hampshire and lumbered with the crippling mortgage on a pretentious ruin in Normandy. This is why he lodges where he can in between spending his time on the job or in his dockside local pub, The Ship Leopard.
Deadly Tide opens with the world on the brink of a new millennium. A beachcomber finds a Hermes Birkin designer bag containing a large amount of heroin, and an even larger amount of banknotes, along with two severed arms. Meanwhile, a cleaner on board a cross-Channel ferry boat finds a limbless and headless body in a luxury cabin.
At his temporary lodgings above the Midnight Tindaloo, our hero is awoken with the grim news by his fiercely loyal assistant, drinking companion and confidante, Sergeant Catherine McCarthy. To other members of the City force, she is a strikingly attractive, clever but often prickly officer. To Mowgley she is his muse and mate Melons, but he is the only person on earth allowed her to call her that.
After opening the Trunk Murder case, Mowgley and Melons find themselves following a trail across the Channel which becomes increasingly littered with dead bodies... and body parts.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT INSPECTOR MOWGLEY: "I was totally absorbed as the tale unfolded. Not so much by the plot, but by waiting for the next assault on political correctness."
"Refreshingly and hilariously non-PC."
"Make way for a new anti-hero. A triumph for Mr East."
"The character was so beautifully flawed, the plot inventive and the humour original."
"Regular readers of George East productions will recognise the sharp witticisms, the keen eye for the absurd, and the understanding of the human condition."
GEORGE East gained hands-on experience of police procedure when he and his wife ran an inner-city Portsmouth pub frequented by a host of hard-bitten CID officers. As well as telling tales of grisly and bizarre cases in which they had been involved, the officers even once set up a murder room at the pub so they could continue working while enjoying a session at their favourite local...
THE ANTEDILUVIAN DETECTIVE
Name: John ('Jack') Mowgley
Rank: Detective Inspector (just)
D.O.B.: 31.1.50
Height: 5ft 11 inches
Weight: 16-17 stone (depending)
Body shape: Lumpy
Distinguishing Features: 'ACAB' tattooed on fingers of left hand. Scar on right temple. Frequently broken nose. Right earlobe mislaid.
A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER: As the publisher of George East's books, I'm always pleased to have a new title from George to offer our friends and readers. I have been working with George now for a long time and find his ironic and subtly-layered style to be absorbing, thought provoking and entertaining. Some may think George's approach to be verging on outrageous, but good perceptive readers see the clear thinking and logic in his characters thoughts and deeds. As for political incorrectness, yes, many people in these modern days would say his Inspector Mowgley is un-pc. Others would say that he was not at all out of kilter with general feelings of a growing number of people about how ridiculous political correctness is becoming.
Francesca Brooks for la Puce Publications.
About the Author: George East is not everyone's idea of an author. After leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, he set out on a varied career path which included (failed) Rock god, Impressionist (house) painter, plumber, welder, demolition engineer, pickled onion manufacturer, private detective, male model, lorry driver, brewer's drayman, PR and Marketing guru, magazine editor, freelance journalist, hotel manager, snooker hall owner, seamstress, night club bouncer, DJ and radio and television presenter and pub landlord. After winning the title of Britain's Worst Publican for two years running, George and his wife Donella decided to see what life across the English Channel had to offer. They bought a ruined mill on ten acres of meadows, woods, streams and mud in Normandy, and set about surviving from self-sufficiency. As they struggled to survive, George wrote a book warning other Brits about the perils of buying property in and moving to live in France. To the surprise of the Easts and the astonishment of their bank managers on both sides of the Channel, Home & Dry in France (A year in Purgatory) was a best-seller. More books about the East's adventures and travels in rural France followed. Then George turned his hand to crime fiction and wrote Death Duty, the first book in a series about a seedy detective in charge of Portsmouth ferry port. He based the book on his experiences in travelling to and from France, and of his time behind bars when his pub was the local for a squad of CID officers. Soon followed the second, third and now fourth book in what I suspect will be a long running series. Now, George divides his time between France and England, writing travel and crime books, and, as he says, winkling out the best and cheapest bars and restaurants in all France. To find out more about George and his work, his website can be found at www.george-east.net
