Radu Herklots

When polite arguments between members of an exclusive wine tasting society take on a sinister turn, private detective John Tedesco and wine merchant Jos Elsted find themselves caught up in the fallout. Can they work out how and why an outwardly respectable group of wine experts have turned into murder suspects? As his investigations lead him to the island of Madeira , Tedesco encounters a fellow private detective, Tony Camacho, and an opinionated former royal correspondent called Sir Reggie Challenor, who provide him with some interesting leads. Meanwhile , back in Rhyminster, Jos helps the police as they investigate the backgrounds of the club members, which reveals some real surprises. Can Tedesco and his team, including Barker the border terrier, crack the case before the final tasting?

A love letter to a time and place, a city and its beloved football team, Home Park Heaven is uplifting, frequently hilarious, poignant and moving. Established crime writer, Radu Herklots, revisits his childhood and adolescence in Plymouth with Technicolor clarity. As well as his Plymouth Argyle heroes, much of 1960’s and early 1970’s Plymouth life is here. Names like Angela Rippon, Sue Lawley, David Owen, Sir Francis Chichester, Robert Lenkiewicz and Beryl Cook bounce off the pages, together with Ivor Dewdney, Mimi Law, Robert Daniel and Gus Honeybun. We read of the author’s shock at being plucked away from his idyllic home opposite Central Park at the pivotal age of fifteen before we come up to date with an emotional return trip with his late father in 2012, a sixtieth birthday visit with his wife and yet another crucial encounter at Home Park in 2024. If you see someone on a Plymouth bound train giggling uncontrollably it is a fair chance that they are reading Home Park Heaven.

From the author of the successful ‘John Tedesco crime series’ a collection of eleven short stories. The title story, ‘A Salisbury Tendresse’ introduces Stephen and Joanna, two middle-aged newcomers to Salisbury who set out nervously on what may or may not turn out to be a romantic adventure. In the other stories, we meet Maureen, who hates what has happened to her small town in Devon and decides to take matters into her own hands, the young artist and his wife whose struggle through the Covid pandemic is rewarded with the joy of an unexpected addition to the family and Rex, a widower struggling with grief. Other characters include Shane Meredith, a wannabe rock god from 1960’s Plymouth, the denizens of the pub in ‘Backwoodsmen’ and a group of old friends from university clinging on to past glories in ‘The Autumn Men’. For fans of John Tedesco, there is a bonus story featuring the familiar cast, ‘A Close Encounter’.

In this third instalment of the John Tedesco Cathedral Murder Mystery series, a controversial new bishop arrives in Rhyminster with a clearly stated mission to attack the Woke culture, his every pronouncement stirring up a hornet’s nest. Bishop James appoints a new Chief Executive who instigates a reign of terror throughout the diocese. But before the dean and the old establishment can take any effective steps to tame the worst excesses of the new regime, Bishop James is found dead, with some medieval lettering seemingly etched on his back. The bewildered police forces decide to call on the services of John Tedesco and Lynne Davey as the acknowledged experts in strange goings on in the Church of England. A chance visit to a ruined Abbey in Yorkshire leads Tedesco to a possible lead, but as the plot takes more slippery twists and turns than the Cresta Run, including some sinister predictions from a ghost like presence, the private investigator fears that there could be more danger to come. Is there a serial killer at loose with his or her sights set on other bishops? And as his friends and colleagues seem to be abandoning him, could this be Tedesco’s final investigation?

In the second John Tedesco mystery, following on from the acclaimed debut The Cage, we find a heartbroken Tedesco returning to Rhyminster to be confronted by the tragic death of a volunteer guide who fell from the cathedral tower in suspicious circumstances.

Enjoying an overdue break in Venice, the Bishop of Rhyminster has a chance encounter with Oliver Canford; a flamboyant tour guide, staying at the same hotel who grew up in a vicarage and read Theology at Cambridge. Despite misgivings from his wife, Bishop Bob offers him the post of Bishop’s Lay assistant. But Canford neglects his duties in favour of flirting with the Chorister Mums, pursuing eligible widows around Cathedral Close and disappearing to London to sing with his refined choir. When one of his absences extends to 48 hours, the Bishop worries. He calls in his old friend John Tedesco, who runs a bespoke detective agency with his colleague Lynne Davey. When a body is discovered in the Rhyme Chantry, a forbidding structure known as “the Cage”, the tiny tourist city is thrust under the media spotlight, suspicion falling on a leading member of the Cathedral staff. Join Tedesco and Davey as they encounter a byzantine world of rival voluntary groups, hard pressed clergy and warring choral societies. Can they cut through the confusion and solve the mystery of “The Cage” before DCI Bloomfield jumps to the wrong conclusion?