Bøger af Geoff Le Pard

With their relationship under pressure, is adopting a dog the best decision for Mervin and Landen? As they adapt to fit the animal into their busy lives a chance encounter with Dave and Sheri, the dog's previous owners, develops into something more and the newfound friendship is tested to the limits. Life is complicated when Landen loses her job following the discovery of her affair with a colleague and then she becomes involved in a police investigation into alleged money laundering and drug dealing at her old firm. She tries desperately to keep the sordid truth from Mervin as events begin to spiral out of control. As the four lives overlap and criss-cross the one constant is their shared love of the dog named Moo. But the problems mount up. While Sheri and Mervin grow close as they struggle to help each other, it is the unlikely alliance between Sheri and Landen that leads to the dramatic climax. However, there is only room for one hero in this story - who will it be?

These 30 short stories are a mixture of genres and points of view: they cover horror, espionage, through thrillers, humour, romance and MG. There is something for everyone. They were written in a month, one a day, approximately 1667 words each. They can be read over breakfast and will have you laughing and crying, thinking and cringing.

It's 1987 and Harry Spittle's life is going pretty well: the City of London is booming and his legal career is on an upward trajectory. His long-term relationship with girlfriend Penny is back on an even keel - for now - and they are about to become parents; they are also the proud owners of their first home and have finally joined the property-owning class. So of course everything is about to go horribly wrong...It's bad enough that he finds a partner's dead body sprawled across a desk in a compromising condition when he returns to the office late one Friday evening and he goes on to unwisely accepts his senior partner's offer to 'sort the problem out'. Life is further complicated when Magda Kleinkopf, an old friend from Harry's days working in a Hampshire hotel, turns up at his house desperate to have him sort out her UK citizenship to help her save her sister from the East German authorities. This leads him into conflict with his sister Dina, who now works for MI5 in a mysterious capacity. We follow Harry as he risks losing his friends, his family, his career and possibly his life to an incurable disease. Everything comes to a head as the storm clouds gather. Can there be a happy ending? Set against the booming economy of Thatcherite politics and the imminent bust at the end of October 1987, we see Harry in a new guise. In this, the third in the series of the Harry Spittle Sagas Harry is all grown up but not really sure how to handle the responsibility, and the pressure is on to tie up the loose ends before his child is born.

Salisbury Square Jerzy Komaza is adept at turning a blind eye. He has allowed his father's beatings of his sister, Maria, to continue for years. Yet one hot summer day he finally snaps, and it is Maria who sends him away from their home in Bialystok in rural Poland, fearing the consequences if he stays. Desperate and unsure, Jerzy heads for London where his old friend Jan has promised him work. At first he is completely disorientated. Worse, there's no sign of Jan. Feeling lost and adrift in the strange city, Jerzy overhears a young woman's cries. Memories of his sister stir him into action and he intervenes. The woman is Suzie Thomas, a drug addict dependent on local thug Paul Rogers for her supplies and for whom she turns tricks. Rogers also runs gangs of workmen around the city, and Jan works for him. Gradually Jerzy is dragged into Suzie's world, a violent dog-eat-dog existence of the underclass living next to but separate from London's affluent citizens. Jan has his own problems with Rogers, and when his cousin Ola Nowak is slashed with a knife while trying to sort out Jan's debt, he is bent on revenge. Jerzy is torn between stopping his friend and, because of his own growing hatred of Rogers' casual violence towards Suzie, helping him. Suzie's family are hunting for her. Her grandparents hear she has moved to London and seek her out. In doing so they too find themselves pulled into Rogers' orbit. As the heat builds and the rain pours down, various forces begin to drag these desperate individuals together into a violent confrontation. And into this mix comes Lech Komoza, Jerzy's half-brother intent on his own violent retribution. This story contains elements of revenge, love, the clash of classes and cultures, the isolation of large cities and the single-minded determination to survive. Set against a backdrop of one of the most affluent cities in the Western world, it is a modern parable about the lure of redemption and how hope can be corrupted by despair.

When Harry Spittle, nearly qualified as a solicitor, is approached to write a Will for old acquaintance Sven Andersen, he is somewhat surprised but rather pleased. That pleasure sours after he finds that the Will Sven actually signs is very different to the one he has drawn up, with Harry as the executor. Disappointment turns to horror when he discovers that Sven has been winding up his late father's criminal empire and a number of not very nice people are interested in the Will's contents.If he is to remain in one piece, able to continue his career in the law and save his on-off relationship with his girlfriend Penny, who is unfortunately under suspicion of murder, he needs to find out what's happened to the money and distribute it according to Sven's wishes. The trouble is Sven has not only hidden the assets but also the identities of those who benefit. Harry will have to solve a fiendish puzzle Sven has left behind with the help of his sister Dina before his world comes crashing down. With so many people depending on him, Harry knows it's time for him to grow up - it's just that he really, really doesn't want to.Set in 1981 to the backdrop of punk, Thatcherite politics and an upcoming Royal wedding, this is a book for those who like their nostalgia served with a side of humour and a dash of optimism all wrapped up in a compelling mystery.

Life is fast, life is short. In a series of short fiction pieces, most under 500 words, we explore the world, its inhabitants and their trials and tribulations, their ups and downs and sideways shifts, all with humour and decent grammar. You'll find something to amuse and intrigue here and if, unlikely as it is, one piece isn't for you, well, turn the page and start again.

Following the success of Life In A Grain of Sand and Life In A Flash, here comes Life In A Conversation, an anthology of short and super short fiction. These pieces are mostly 500 words or less (with a few longer pieces thrown in, if you like to get your teeth into a story) and cover pretty much every major genre apart from YA, MA or children's fiction. Dip in and enjoy them; better still let them inspire you to write your own.

An anthology of poems, inspired by the top 100 British poems and a love of sonnets

A collection of poetry from the poet/author guests of Robbie Cheadle on the "Treasuring Poetry" blog series on Writing to be Read in 2020. Open the book and discover the poetry treasures of Sue Vincent, Geoff Le Pard, Frank Prem, Victoria (Tori) Zigler, Colleen M. Chesebro, K. Morris, Annette Rochelle Aben, Jude Kitya Itakali, and Roberta Eaton Cheadle.