Kirjahaku

‘Theory, whether wanted, asked for or needed, was what Penny did best. He had a theory for all things.’ Restless Souls plots the pathway of jaded art history lecturer R. I. Penny. Upon reading about the death of actress Kate Considine, found dressed as Ophelia from Millais’s painting, Penny feels complicit. Indeed, for Penny, trouble is never far away – when a file left in his pigeonhole evidences fraud in the University, he hides it. Bursting with swagger and vulnerability, Penny is questioned as a matter of routine by two detectives, Lucy Freeman and Richard Hart. But Penny is quickly convinced he can out sleuth Hart, and recruits an old friend Dove to help him solve the many mysteries laid out before him.

"The injuries to the throat were committed by metallic claws. There were no traces of DNA." Everyone knows that werewolves don't exist, not even 'up north'. But historian-cum-detective R.I. Penny isn't so sure. Whilst working with his therapist to overcome past trauma, and writing a novel, Penny is embroiled in a murder case, alongside former associates Dove and Periwinkle. But as Penny becomes ever more fixated on the murder and his writing, his fictional world and reality begin to merge, leaving Penny uncertain where the truth ends and the fiction begins.

He yawned as the door closed and his face disappeared.Outside, a watcher shuddered.Retired university professor R.I. Penny believed assassins existed only in action movies, dramatic works of fiction, and occasionally politics.Unfortunately for him, he finds this view shaken when two assassins attempt to 'retire' him full stop.Enlisting his friends Dove and Periwinkle, Penny swiftly becomes both hunter and hunted, as they seek out the assassins, and their reasons for wanting Penny dead.Luck, Penny believes, is a quality, a personal attribute. But is his about to run out?

Time is running out. Retired university professor R.I. Penny has always had a knack for finding trouble, and when an old friend is killed - the suspects leaving behind little more than the graffitied word ‘grass’ - he can’t help but get involved in the investigation. But the gates of hell don’t stay closed for long, and as Penny digs deeper into Codger’s mysterious death, sinister goings on come to light. With local thugs, far-right politicians, and even the police on his tail, will Penny survive long enough to uncover the truth?