Books
Blackmail
In crime and thriller novel, Blackmail, Michael explores the lives of a group of criminals who pull off a daring robbery. However, one of them becomes involved in a struggle with a security guard who is shot and seriously injured. The gang leader, Michael Doyle, establishes a seemingly perfect alibi to escape, but their carefully prepared plans begin to unravel when the DNA of the robber who struggled with the injured guard is detected. The investigators are able to link him with Doyle through CCTV and both of them are arrested. Clever lawyers seek to exclude the DNA evidence but Doyle's girlfriend, who has some legal knowledge, is sceptical that the ploy will work. Desperate measures become necessary... Then, things take a turn for the worse when a judge's home is raided and his wife and young son kidnapped. It turns out they will only be released if he rules against the prosecution. Will the judge do what the kidnappers demand? Will Blackmail reveal who was behind the kidnapping? Was it Doyle's girlfriend or someone from his past? Someone he had crossed? Only time will tell... Blackmail will appeal to fans of chilling crime and thriller novels.
A Private and Convenient Place
In this sequel to the successful Blackmail, Julia Hamilton, the scheming girlfriend of recently convicted robber, Michael Doyle is to stand trial for her role in the kidnapping of Judge Campion's wife and the unsuccessful attempt to blackmail the judge into dismissing the case against Doyle. The prosecution depends on the evidence of the accomplice and police informer, Derick Duffy. Until, that is, the gang's leader and ex-IRA commandant, Joseph Hanlon, himself serving a lengthy sentence in a maximum security prison, surprisingly agrees to give evidence against Julia. But what's in it for Joseph? If he is telling the truth, Julia will likely be convicted. And what of Doyle? Does he have a part to play, or has Julia abandoned him for someone else, someone more useful? Skilled barristers on each side press witnesses in their attempts to find the truth, but not all is as it seems in this tantalizing sequel to Blackmail. Readers are taken inside the jury room where Julia's fate will be decided and all is revealed as the storyline twists to an astonishing and shattering conclusion.
The Harman Brief
A serial rapist is roaming around The Midlands. Several police forces are pooling together their limited resources to catch him before he strikes again.
Joseph Harman, a first-year medical student at the local university, is reeling after a night out. He and Agnes Squires, a girl he met in a nightclub, slept together the first night they met. The next day, however, Joseph is accused of rape. Obviously, he denies it. Agnes was an enthusiastic participant, after all. In any case, Joseph is a good boy from a good family. Why would he do something so stupid? Why would he risk the indignity and trauma of standing up in court? And jeopardise his dreams of becoming a doctor?
Find out in this page-turning thriller which depicts how easily, when a system is under intolerable pressure, things can go catastrophically wrong. This is the cold, hard reality of the British legal system without the ‘fat cat’ lawyers to distract you from reality. Once you read this you will never see the criminal justice system in the same way.
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When Supper was Ended
Follows the thrilling investigation of the murder of a monk recently found dead in Northamptonshire, and the search for a historical artefact dating back to the Tudors. Draws on the author's extensive experience as a QC and Judge. The third in the series featuring Inspector Hood, following on from Blackmail and A Private and Convenient Place. Who would kill a priest? A Benedictine monk is found dead in a recently discovered priest-hole in a country house in Northamptonshire which, before the reformation, was an Augustinian Priory. Chief Inspector Hood is initially baffled. The monk’s injuries plainly show he was battered to death. But why and by whom? Was his death connected with the search for the Powdrell chalice associated with the family that lived in the house during the reign of Mary Tudor? Or was there some other motive? Hood must work his way through several suspects, investigating their past lives, as he discerns truth from legend. Could the killer be the American Jesuit staying as a guest at the house, in the midst of a crisis of faith? Or was the killer, perhaps, someone from the monk’s own past? Hood’s investigation reveals that while the past is another country you cannot really break away from it. It has always been there first and muddied the trail of truth with its own footprints.
Readers Reviews
Felicity
Gerry QC
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Blackmail by Michael Stokes is an unputdownable romp... the outstanding trial of the femme fatale is enough of a cliffhanger to leave the reader gagging for the next novel."
Australians
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