Sitting on the bank of the River Wear running below Durham Castle, undergraduate Leah Carmichael is looking for inspiration in the sparkling water and the golden autumnal leaves. Her concentration is interrupted when she is approached by a stranger, Peter Bennett, who eventually suggests they have a cup of tea together, and Leah agrees. The innocence of this 'boy meets girl' everyday occurrence is the precursor to tragedy. As she innocently enjoys a cream tea, Leah could never imagine that she has been chosen to be her companion's sixth and final victim. Peter Bennett is evil: most men who meet him consider him to be extremely arrogant and a loner, but not evil. Women might see beneath the outward veneer of self-importance and discover instead a sensuality and magnetism that are difficult to ignore. For Peter Bennett other men are a challenge but not a threat. His overconfidence places him above the need to fight for superiority because in his mind he is already there. But he is intimidated by every female he meets, for him they are from the Devi's spawn, and were put on the earth with one aim in mind: to destroy mankind. 'The Devil's Jigsaw' is an all consuming thriller with deadly results as it depicts each of Peter Bennett's victims and his grisly intentions. He believes their deaths will release him from the trap he slipped into when he was still a child.
About the Author: Nigel Lampard was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army when after thirty-seven years he retired from active service in 1999. Trained as an ammunition and explosives expert, he travelled all over the world and was appointed an Order of the British Empire for services to his country. Before finally retiring in 2007 and as a second career, he helped British Forces personnel with their transition to civilian life. Nigel and his wife, Jane, have been married for over forty years and they have two sons and four grandchildren. They have lived in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex since 2007. Nigel started writing after a tour in Berlin in the early 1980s - he fell in love with what was then a walled and divided city. After leaving Berlin, the only way he could continue this well-developed affair was to write about it. By the time he completed the draft for his first novel he was already in love with writing.