Saving Africa’s Elephants

Tonight on BBC TV there’s part one of two of 'Saving Africa's Elephants' that features Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall campaigning to save the African elephant. Although these magnificent beasts have been ‘protected’ for over two decades, they’re still being slaughtered for their ivory. It’s a sick illegal trade that should have been stopped long ago. But then again, we’ve been saying that about the human slave trade – which hasn’t been stopped either…

Endangered species and their support have been close to my heart for many years.  That might account for the fact that I’ve featured various aspects of their plight and the illegal trade in my writing. No preaching, just facts used in the story.

‘Endangered Species’. A short story featuring half-Spanish half-English private eye Leon Cazador on the track of dealers in exotic pets. See SpanishEye, a collection of 22 Cazador cases.

Blood of the DragonTrees. Laura Reid likes her new job on Tenerife, teaching the Spanish twins Maria and Ricardo Chávez. She certainly doesn’t want to get involved with Andrew Kirby and his pal, Jalbala Emcheta, who work for CITES*, tracking down illegal traders in endangered species. Yet she’s undeniably drawn to Andrew, which is complicated, as she’s also attracted to Felipe, the brother of her widower host, Don Alonso. Felipe’s girlfriend Lola is jealous and Laura is forced to take sides – risking her own life – as she and Andrew uncover the criminal network that not only deals in the products from endangered species, but also thrives on people trafficking. Very soon betrayal and mortal danger lurk in the shadows, along with dark deeds …

Cataclysm. Third in the ‘Avenging Cat’ series. We again meet Laura and Andrew, this time in Shanghai on the trail of illegal trade in endangered species. This is primarily an adventure featuring Catherine Vibrissae and her vendetta against the crooked CEO Loup Malefice, but her path crosses with Laura's during her investigations.

* CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Paperback trilogy - the cat's meow...

• Three exciting paperback action romantic adventures featuring ‘the avenging Cat’! 

•  With superb uniform covers from Crooked Cat Publishing.

Catalyst - £7.99

Kindle also available – (series introductory bargain!) - £0.86

Catacomb - £5.99

Kindle - £2.58

Cataclysm - £6.99

Kindle - £2.58

Other e-book formats are also available.

CATALYST

The Avenging Cat series #1

Catalyst: a person that precipitates events.

That's Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model. Avenging Cat. She seeks revenge against Loup Malefice, the man responsible for the takeover of her father's company. An accomplished climber, Cat is not averse to breaking and entering to confound her enemies. Ranging from south of England to the north-east, Wales and Barcelona, Cat's quest for vengeance is implacable. But with the NCA hot on her tail, can she escape the clutches of sinister Zabala and whip-wielding Profesora Quesada?

CATACOMB

The Avenging Cat series #2

Catacomb: a subterranean cemetery: a place where ancient corpses are found – or new ones are dumped.
After their recent success in Barcelona, Cat and Rick continue their vendetta against Loup Malefice and his global company, Cerberus, penetrating the lair of Petra Grimalkin in Nice. But death stalks the pair, as do the dogs of law from the NCA, Basset and Pointer. Cat’s trail of vengeance next leads to the Cerberus health food processing plant in the Maghreb. She puts her skills to good use in Morocco where she again confronts the psychotic killer, Zabala. From the exotic streets of Tangier to the inhospitable High Atlas Mountains, danger lurks and a deadly ambush awaits…

CATACLYSM

The Avenging Cat series #3

Cataclysm:  a political or social upheaval

Some months after their adventure in Morocco, Catherine Vibrissae receives devastating news from Rick – news that will change her life. Still determined to go to Shanghai to face down her arch enemy Malefice and end her vendetta once and for all, she thwarts an ambush by Cerberus’ head of security, Mr Soong. To complicate matters, oligarch and people smuggler Belofsky is in Shanghai with his own agenda. While Cat plays cat-and-mouse with Soong, she uncovers a conspiracy that could lead to war between China and Japan

Countdown to Cataclysm - 7 days to go

CATACLYSM

#3 in the 'Avenging Cat' series

Cataclysm, a political or social upheaval

Some months after their adventure in Morocco, Catherine Vibrissae receives devastating news from Rick – news that will change her life.

Still determined to go to Shanghai to face down her arch enemy Malefice and end her vendetta once and for all, she thwarts an ambush by Cerberus’ head of security, Mr Soong.

To complicate matters, oligarch and people smuggler Belofsky is in Shanghai with his own agenda.

While Cat plays cat-and-mouse with Soong, she uncovers a conspiracy that could lead to war between China and Japan.

CATACLYSM

Available from

Amazon Co Uk here

Amazon Com here

at a bargain price!

Published by Crooked Cat Publishing on 15 December 2015.

***

You can jump on at any point in the series, but if you want to start at the beginning, 'a very good place to start', then here is where to go...

Available from:

Amazon Co Uk

#1 - CATALYST

#2 - CATACOMB

Amzon Com

#1 - CATALYST

#2 - CATACOMB

and... other online stores!

Three Avenging Cats

I’m pleased to announce that Crooked Cat have accepted the next two books in the ‘Avenging Cat’ crime series, Catacomb and Cataclysm.

Now might be a good time to meet Cat – Catherine Vibrissae in the first book in the series (paperback or e-book):

CATALYST

Catalyst, a person that precipitates events.

That’s Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model. Avenging Cat.

She seeks revenge against Loup Malefice, the man responsible for the takeover of her father’s company. An accomplished climber, Cat is not averse to breaking and entering to confound her enemies. During her investigations, she crosses the path of Rick Barnes, a company lawyer, who seems to have his own agenda.

Ranging from south of England to the north-east, Wales and Barcelona, Cat’s quest for vengeance is implacable. But with the NCA hot on her tail, can she escape the clutches of sinister Zabala and whip-wielding Profesora Quesada?

 

Catacomb and Cataclysm will be published  in paperback and e-book format later this year:

CATACOMB

The Avenging Cat series #2

Catacomb, a subterranean cemetery: a place where ancient corpses are found – or new ones are dumped…

After their recent success in Barcelona, both Cat and Rick continue their vendetta against Loup Malefice and his global company, Cerberus, penetrating the lair of Petra Grimalkin in Nice.

But death stalks the pair, as do the dogs of law from the NCA, Basset and Pointer.

Cat’s trail of vengeance next leads to the Cerberus health food processing plant in the Maghreb…  She puts her skills to good use in Morocco where she again confronts the psychotic killer, Zabala.  From the exotic streets of Tangier to the inhospitable High Atlas Mountains, danger lurks and a deadly ambush awaits…

 
CATACLYSM

The Avenging Cat series #3

 
Some months after their adventure in Morocco, Catherine Vibrissae receives devastating news from Rick, news that will change her life.

Still determined to go to Shanghai to face down her arch enemy Malefice and end her vendetta once and for all, she thwarts an ambush by Cerberus head of security, Mr Soong.

 
But, to complicate matters, oligarch and people-smuggler Belofsky is in Shanghai with his own agenda.
 
While Cat plays cat-and-mouse with Soong, she uncovers a conspiracy that could lead to open conflict between China and Japan.

***

From Amazon COM here

From Amazon UK here

From Kobo here

From Smashwords here

Writing - research - update

I’m getting to the end of the novel set mainly in China (Shanghai and Nanjing) and this has involved quite a lot of interesting research, most of which won’t appear in the book (happily, say most readers!) – subjects such as:

Architecture

Surveillance
Food and farming
Pollution
Grand Canal
Wuxi district
Sino-Japanese relations
Corruption

An immense and fascinating country, with stoic and long-suffering people, and influenced by complex even contradictory politics. Yes, there are considerable human rights issues – and privacy and health concerns – and these will be touched upon, though not too much as the book is a thriller, after all!

The country’s most recent reform era began in 1978, but it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that free market ideas started to have a major impact on smaller cities. Locals coped with overwhelming change: the end of government-assigned jobs, the sudden privatisation of housing.

 

Pollution is serious. Not only dirty air, but contaminated soil and water. Yet action is being taken to combat this (whether fast enough is another matter.) For example, all local cabs and buses in Fuling now run on natural gas, in order to reduce pollution. Hundreds of factories bordering Lake Tai (a huge freshwater lake at risk) have been closed down or moved.

Here are some quotations from a 2013 National Geographic: There is an old saying of China: Dog loves house in spite of being poor; son loves mother in spite of being ugly. That’s our feeling. Today we are working hard, and tomorrow we will do what we can for our country.

Since the late 1970s, about 155 million people have migrated to the cities from the countryside.

Three Gorges Dam is the largest concrete structure on Earth – 5 times as wide as the Hoover Dam.