Millions of us take package holidays for granted every year but did you ever wonder how it all began? Thanks to Vincent Cobb's 35 years of experience working in the travel industry culminating in his position as managing director of Thomson Holidays, we can learn all about the tricks that formed the basis of the business at its outset. This fascinating book allows us to observe the industry's steep learning curve from its infancy in the late '50s to the present day, using you as guinea pigs. You will find this a gripping yet refreshingly humorous account. The author tells …

In 1988, Harvard law graduate Tom Metzler is visiting London for the first time. Although on legal business, he finds time to visit the Natural History Museum where, among the cornucopia of treasures he witnesses something that changes his life forever: the sight of a stunningly beautiful young woman. He’s elated when their eyes meet and she fixes him with a winsome smile, but in an instant and as if by magic, she disappears. This vision of beauty reappears at Tom’s hotel later that evening. Tom’s delighted yet bewildered when she addresses him by name without the slightest introduction, and …

Newly promoted after successfully rising to the greatest challenge of her career, Angela Crossley finds herself once again facing evil head on, but this time her investigative insight is clouded by the burgeoning awareness of her increasing sensitivity to the paranormal. Newly installed at Scotland Yard, she s haunted by the past, even as her inexplicable dreams foretell events and crimes to come with terrifying accuracy. Her new department's first task is to look into patterns of criminal behaviour find the correlations between crime and criminal, victim and violation, pick up the trail and solve the unsolvable. The past, therefore, …

In this collection of short stories, Vincent Cobb explores aspects of life that are both extraordinary and interesting, but often delve in to the otherworld of the supernatural. From the story of the remarkable but apparently ordinary Agnes Ward, whose discovery of cancer takes her on a journey out of this world, we meet Fred who is Dead. But no one has told him and he is dead, so he's a bit fuddled with the situation of his own funeral. Though things are going to get worse for him as the sins of the past catch up with all men. …

As a British Army officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers, Toby Woodbridge twice deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, and spent a total of eight months in the notorious District of Sangin. Employed as mentor to the Afghan National Police during his last tour in the town, Woodbridge spent over six months living, working, and fighting alongside members of that much maligned but critically important organisation, gaining a privileged view of their work and insight into their world. His experiences from those two tours provide the background for this unique perspective on the difficulties and dangers involved when working, living, …

This is another sequel to the Thadeus Burke adventure stories; continuing the antics of the aristocratic Lloyd’s Insurance Broker and his sister Dr Freddie, together with Inspector Johnny Jackson of Scotland Yard. It is now 1928. An apparently motiveless murder at the opening ceremony of the new Lloyd’s Underwriting Room develops into a trek around the country seeking money lenders and drug dealers. We follow the unravelling of this mystery, interwoven with passionate affaires involving most of the prime suspects. Entwined within this tale there are bodies at country house parties, fancy dress balls and a treasure hunt, trips to …

The third of the Thadeus Burke series continues the antics of the aristocratic Lloyd’s insurance broker and his sister Dr Freddie, together with Inspector Johnny Jackson of Scotland Yard. It is now the spring of 1927 and our hero, assisted by his loyal staff, divide their time between London and Cambridge. A wealthy racehorse owner spinster is murdered at her house in Newmarket and we follow the unravelling of this mystery, interwoven with passionate affairs involving the prime suspect and our hero and his sister. Entwined within this tale, there are bodies at Brooklands’ motor races and at horseraces, on …

This book is a sequel to the first adventures of Thadeus Burke, continuing the antics of the aristocratic Lloyd’s insurance broker and his sister, Dr Freddie, together with Inspector Johnny Jackson of Scotland Yard. It is now the summer of 1926 and our hero, assisted by his loyal staff, divide their time between London and Cambridge. Following the Derby at Epsom, a body is found, a major art robbery occurs, and some very peculiar anonymous postal deliveries keep the amateur sleuths busy until they can finally relax at the theatre in Paris. Between the three main mysteries is woven a …

Meet the Honourable Thadeus Burke, son of a lord launching his career running an insurance business at Lloyd's of London. Yet, if Thadeus Burke hoped to find security and a quiet life, he could not have been more mistaken. For where the stakes are high, the cunning is low. The underworld finds its way into underwriting, and Thadeus finds himself drawn into the riddles and rewards of fighting crime. Mystery by mystery, Thadeus, his irrepressible sister Freddie, and the CID's Inspector Jackson follow cases from the world of horse racing to the world of jazz, from the early days of …

Roy Chadwick has been a writer and analyst of aspects of society for most of his working life. He has edited internal marketing publications and written newsletters. He ran a multiracial youth club in Paddington and a community centre on a Labour housing estate in a Conservative constituency. He has travelled extensively in the U.S., Caribbean, North Africa, and Asia. He has volunteered for the CAB and worked on behalf of asylum seekers and other disadvantaged people in Salford. He tried to keep vocal jazz alive as a promoter. He co-authored a children’s book on the history of tunnels. He …