The Foxey Factor is the twenty first century's Murphy's Law. Foxey Hunt's fleeting appearance is the sign that everything is about to go wrong, symbolising inevitable but unexpected consequences - and they always happen to Bernie. Bernie is the petty criminal who has never been caught by the police. He has a clean record and is rather a brag and a bore about it to his associates in crime. Bernie's criminal activities are followed from the middle 1950's to the end of the century and while he just survives, his old army buddies grow in daring, wealth, and status to become the crime barons of London and beyond. To the Metropolitan Police, Bernie is a thorn, an irritant, a nuisance, and a challenge, to the extent that his notoriety earns him fame as just The Bernie. In later years he has become such an infamous non-criminal that the Commissioner himself has to beg Bernie to help close the police sweepstake on the date of his first conviction. As a Legend during his own lifetime Bernie finds himself eventually equal to his crime boss friends. The story of Bernie starts in the eras of cops and robbers, reflects the growth of organised crime, and ends in present times with the unease of even old and hardened and now 'respectable' crime bosses at the fear of breakdown of society, the lacks of respect to institutions and each other and the poor quality of modern crime. The old bosses finally erupt on Bernie's behalf and impose respect on the underworld for one fateful day. They have shown that it can be done! Bernie wants to take their power further. If politicians and the police lack the ability to impose order maybe he can! The story of Bernie and his Foxey Factor relies on, hyperbole, bathos, cliché, the suspension of belief, and stereotypical characters and behaviour. Intentionally unbelievable in fact. Zany! It is a work of fiction to make you laugh - or snigger - or smile. The chapters are complete Bernie episodes so that the book can be read in happy tasty chunks. And there is no offensive material in the book.
About the Author: Retired and living on the South Coast, Alan Bernard has been married over 50 years and has two daughters. He has experienced life in the Army, in the motor trade in Manchester, owning a village shop in Devizes, and finally a business in the Chichester area. After retirement he took a degree with the Open University.