Author's comments

Why did I write Creatures of the Chase - Richard?

After the success of On the Trail of King Richard III, I was encouraged by family and friends to continue to write.  The foundation of Creatures of the Chase – Richard came from a remembered conversation with a beautiful and elegant young girl named Sarah. She was twenty-four years old at the time; I was eighteen. For four years she moved in a world beyond comprehension, populated by extraordinary individuals who were quite simply larger than life. 

Sarah provided me with a thumbnail sketch of men with excessive wealth, influence and power. These were men who did not play by the rules of normal convention but instead saw themselves as the ultimate predators in a world where they could hunt with impunity simply because of who they were and what they were. Richard was one such individual; capable of great tenderness and caring one moment and in the next, able to commit unspeakable acts of violence and cruelty. 

I remember saying something inane about Jet Setters and High Flyers and I remember too the way Sarah smiled with a smile which I would later come to recognize as being reserved for children or the elderly perhaps, and she said sadly, ‘No, the people I’m talking about flew under the radar.’ I didn’t understand then but I understand now.

If the aim of any piece of fiction is to quite simply entertain, I’ve succeeded, which pleases me. Maybe that alone is reason enough to put the proverbial pen to paper.

Why would someone read these novels?

Reading is like undertaking a journey in which, it is hoped you will meet extraordinary people doing extraordinary things against extraordinary backgrounds. You clamber aboard, find a comfortable place to settle in, say goodbye to the real world and begin and once you do; once you’ve met just a few of the Creatures of the Chase, you may find it very difficult to stop reading, so be warned!

If you fancy sex and violence, mystery, murder and mayhem, exotic locales, history, unforgettable and not infrequently monstrous characters who will amaze and even horrify you one moment than make you laugh the next, Creatures of the Chase - Richard is the first in a quartet of must reads – Richard, Yusuf and Mikail for starters, then finally Sarah’s story.