Eastbourne author adds "startling" new evidence to his crime thriller

Tony goes to great lengths in order to ensure his thrillers are authentic, he says, with correct police procedures and convictions. His latest crime thriller FALL GUY – WHO REALLY KILLED HIS WIFE? received excellent reviews and endorsements, including one from best-selling writer Peter James, but opinion was divided among former officers about one of the police procedures.

So Tony, who lives in Eastbourne after spending most of his working life in South London and Middlesex, has brought out a new version of Fall Guy with a new piece of evidence.

Tony, a former journalist and Sky Television executive, explained: “My main character in Fall Guy, George Thornhill, had returned home from work early to find his wife Isabella lying on the lounge floor in the kimono he gave her for her birthday – dying from a stab wound. His desperate attempts to save her resulted in him being covered in blood and leaving his fingerprints on the knife. Worse still, Isabella had been seen alive and well 30 minutes before he arrived and there's no evidence of anyone else being at the crime scene.

“But while one former senior police officer told me that in real life these facts would be enough to charge and convict the husband, other former officers claimed they would not. So I've now driven a further nail into poor George's coffin in an amended version of Fall Guy by having him confronted by the last person on earth he would choose.

“He is about to telephone the police when the phone rings. It's his mother-in-law. In a fraught conversation, the distraught husband blurts out that her daughter has been stabbed, and when she twice asks if he did it, George's only answer is to yell 'Phone the police'. This provides further cause to charge and convict him on the basis that he twice failed to deny killing his wife when given the opportunity to do so. While George is banged up in prison, his sister Myra persuades compassionate cop DCI Livermore – just back from sick leave – to reopen the case, and a host of new suspects emerge.”

Tony, who says his pet hate is seeing TV murder mysteries get police procedures hopelessly wrong, says free previews of Fall Guy and his other two thrillers, Triple Tease and Stitch Up – Killer or Victim?, are available on Amazon.co.uk.

All three have received endorsements from best-selling authors.

Former journalist Tony was editor of Football Monthly, controller of information at Sky Television and enjoyed a spell with The People before retiring in 2010 after moving to Eastbourne following spells in Bromley, Woolwich and Twickenham. He has written in several genres, including celebrity book My Life With The Stars – Sizzling Secrets Spilled!

Tony recalls: “My work as a showbiz and leisure writer, critic and editor saw me take on a variety of challenges – learning to dance with Strictly Come Dancing star Erin Boag, becoming a stand-up comedian, playing football with George Best and Bobby Moore in charity matches and writing about Elvis Presley, Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Carr, Eric Morecambe, Des O'Connor and a host of other stars.”​