Unable to rest on his laurels, Martin finds himself involved in the suspicious deaths of two local councillors. Martin knows the two were linked by the case he was investigating, but was it coincidence they both seemed to have died of heart attacks within a day of each other? And why was Councillor Patton's car where it was when he was found dead at the wheel? Martin has a major puzzle on his hands. Not to mention the thorny problem of who is stealing prize-winning cacti from Roselake's greenhouses. Book 4 of the Martin Cole series.
In the fifth book of the series Martin is called in by a local businessman to look into a series of thefts from his warehouse. But the investigation is interrupted by the killing of one of the suspects. Are the thefts and the murder related? Are the police right in thinking there is a drug connection? Or should Martin follow clairvoyant Delia's advice to look for a mysterious triangle? Once again Martin's search for the truth poses many questions for him. Should he become careers advisor to the drugs industry? How much should he pay for his visit to Roselake's brothel? Should he paint the vicar's ceiling? The truth about the murder might be hard to discover and unpleasant, but at least Martin makes some new friends along the way.
Things are not going well for Martin Cole. He is less than happy about his half-century approaching rapidly. More importantly, recently he lost his job, on top of that his wife Carol divorced him and threw him out of his London home. So when his friend Nigel asks him to house-sit his Devon country cottage whilst Nigel takes an extended vacation, Martin jumps at the chance. But if Martin was expecting a quiet life he is in for a shock. Roselake seems peaceful at first glance, but soon Martin finds himself with serious problems. Wild women and raw home-distilled spirits he can cope with, but murder is something he was not prepared for. At times flippant, at times soul-searching, at times naif, Martin muddles through. Whether due to his intuition or just plain luck, Martin solves the Blackleigh murders, making some friends - and enemies - along the way. book inside cover text OLD Cole In The Country finds Martin moving down to Devon after divorce from his wife Carol and eviction from his London home. Martin expects to enjoy a quiet rural idyll house-sitting for his friend Nigel, who has gone for an extended stay in New Zealand. But Martin has not bargained for wild women, raw hooch and strange goings-on in the cowshed. And he certainly didn’t expect to find a corpse.
Martin Cole has a new case. Three dogs have been poisoned on a Roselake housing estate. But his mind is soon taken off that problem by a call from a mother whose son has just been charged with murder and who claims he is innocent. Soon Martin and his assistant Tanya are involved in another round of battles to find the truth and in the meantime to sort out their own personal lives. Is romance in the air for Tanya? How can Martin keep his ex-wife under control and out of his hair? This is the third of Alan Tootill's Martin Cole novels.
Martin Cole is stuck in a rut. But his family and friends have ideas for him. And when Martin's landlord offers him a job sorting out a problem for his niece Anna Martino, he finds it hard to refuse. Soon Martin is back in harness, tempted by the prospect of an intriguing case, not to mention a useful income. Roselake Investigation Services, here we come. He finds himself with an office, an attractive young assistant, Tanya, and a caseload to take on. But Anna's problem is not that easy to resolve. How come her aunt left her money to a cat charity, when she hated cats? And when a hit-and-run driver interrupts Martin's blossoming romance, his investigation takes him once more into a dark past, and a dangerous present. This is the second in the Martin Cole series of novels by Alan Tootill
When he walked into my office it took me a while to recognise Charles Foster.Then I twigged. He was a fracking ambulance chaser. I thought the no-win no-fee lawyer was handing me an easy job for good money. All I had to do was carry out basic background checks on a few prospective clients.I found he'd left out a few things. He didn't tell me Paul Spencer was dead. He didn't tell me I was Paul's stand-in. He didn't tell me about Jessica's long legs. He didn't tell me he was going to disappear. To be fair, he didn't know that himself. Noir meets pulp meets fracking, greed and corruption in the fourth in Alan Tootill's series of Blackpool Novels, featuring PI Mike Grady.
The frackers promised jobs. Promised to turn Blackpool into a new super-rich gold rush town. They brought jobs all right. They brought in foreign workers who sent their money back to their loving wives and families in France and Eastern Europe while they shot up heroin and snorted cocaine at the end of the day’s work. For the rest of Blackpool, before the problems started, it was business as usual. But then people started getting wise. The stories started emerging how the fracking companies, purpose-built venture frackploitation capital firms, were wrecking the land and air. The profit from raping the countryside was going abroad to their US, Australian and Cayman Island and other offshore backers. The only money that stayed in the country went into corrupt politicians’ pockets. Of course back in the early 2010s no-one knew this was coming. But the signs were there. The environmentalists raged on about earthquakes, water pollution and health problems. Most folk didn’t listen. The antis were a ragbag lot, and as often as not were squabbling between themselves. When one of them died in front of a fracking fluid lorry she was blamed for her own stupidity. Now the Fylde is ruined forever, and everyone’s wise after the event.
Readers of the Martin Cole series of novels will be familiar with the cosy side (apart from a murder or two) of the fictional Devon town of Roselake. In his new novel Alan Tootill pulls the curtain aside to reveal what goes on behind Roselake's tranquil façade. A request to change a street name leads to division in the town, vigilantes roaming the streets and police helicopters in the air. Not to mention the burning down of the Town Hall. 'English provincialism gently but tellingly skewered' 'a great gallery of characters' 'a ring of authenticity even when (or because) things verge on the preposterous and comic'
Unable to rest on his laurels, Martin finds himself involved in the suspicious deaths of two local councillors. Martin knows the two were linked by the case he was investigating, but was it coincidence they both seemed to have died of heart attacks within a day of each other? And why was Councillor Patton's car where it was when he was found dead at the wheel? Martin has a major puzzle on his hands. Not to mention the thorny problem of who is stealing prize-winning cacti from Roselake's greenhouses. Book 4 of the Martin Cole series.
