Peter Guttridge

Journalist Nick Madrid finds himself up the proverbial creek-the Amazon-without a paddle when he's dispatched to South America to report on a Rock Against Drugs tour. As if monstrous spiders, piranhas, kidnapping and tiny, spiky fish that swim up a stream of urine to lodge where a man least wants a tiny, spiky fish to lodge aren't enough, Madrid is drawn into the mystery of who is trying to kill the tour's headlining, larger-than-life, pain-in-the-posterior rock megastar Otis Barnes. Madrid soon discovers that the murdering queue forms on the left for Mr. Barnes. The question is

Nick Madrid isn't exactly thrilled when his best friend in journalism-OK, his only friend in journalism-the Bitch of the Broadsheets, Bridget Frost, commissions him to spend a night in a haunted place on the Sussex Downs and live to tell the tale. Especially as living to tell the tale isn't made an urgent priority. But Nick stumbles on a hotter story when he discovers a dead man hanging upside down from an ancient oak. Why was he killed? Is there a connection to the nearby New Age conference centre? Or to The Great Beast, the Hollywood movie about Aleister Crowley, filming down in Brighton? New Age meets The Old Religion as Nick is bothered, bewildered but not necessarily bewitched by pagans, Satanists and a host of assorted metaphysicians. Seances, sabbats, a horse-ride from Hell and a kick-boxing zebra all come Nick's way as he obstinately tracks a treasure once in the possession of Crowley.

A man impaled on the South Downs--consigned to a slow, agonizing death. Another skinned alive. A skeleton found beneath the West Pier, its feet encased in concrete. Brighton has been invaded by vengeful men who kill without conscience and threaten the lives of ex-Chief Constable Bob Watts, his comrade-in-arms Jimmy Tingley, DS Sarah Gilchrist and--above all--Brighton's crime king, John Hathaway. This is no mere power struggle between rival mobsters. But John Hathaway keeps an explosive secret--and someone who knows it has decided that revenge is a dish best served cold...--Provided by publisher.

When the grave of the legendary King Arthur is discovered in the West Country, Nick Madrid and trusty companion Bridget Frost can't resist going in search of Camelot themselves. But instead of chivalrous knights, they find rival heritage-industry marketing men willing to go to any lengths to make money from the discovery. Cue Camelot casinos, Avalon theme parks, medieval Excaliburger banquets, and a frenzy of feuding archaeologists as the tourism and heritage industry goes loopy for Lancelot and company.