A BOOK CHOICE
By Matt D’Arcy
Cormac Murphy, Amovate member and one of Vale da Telha’s newest permanent residents is, like a lot of people up here, an avid reader.
And it certainly helps to keep your bookshelves stocked when you have a well-published author in the family!
Cormac’s brother Jim has just completed his sixth book—his fourth novel—which is already receiving good reviews.
And we’ll be pressing Cormac to let us have a copy for the Amovate library!
Hopefully, Jim will autograph it as well, as Cormac is hoping his brother will be flying over for a visit later this year.
Jim’s book, ‘The Vale of Tears’ has just been released on Amazon/Kindle, the download costing only £1.99, and you can get details from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D341689031&field-keywords=the+vale+of+tears
It will also be released on Apple, Waterstones, WH Smith, Barnes and Noble, for download onto any mobile device in a few more days.
The book, (which I have not yet read!) appears to have a touch of Dan Brown about it, a novel blending fiction with fact as it poses the question about whether Princess Diana’s death was an accident or not.
THE STORYLINE:
Thirteen years after Princess Diana’s death, Laura Ross, an assistant professor of history in Virginia, receives word from her grandfather in England that her life is in danger: she is being stalked by a fanatical secret society which, since the days of the Tudors, has manipulated and controlled the royal succession through conspiracy and murder. He himself is a member.
However, conscience-stricken in his old age, he has stolen certain incriminating documents, the Folio, which he intends to publish and expose the society’s criminal and murderous past.
Ross makes her way to England only to find he has been kidnapped by the society. Joining forces with Ed Carson, a former soldier, she sets off in search of her grandfather and the Folio, hotly pursued by the society’s killers.
The chase moves to a remote abbey in France, where they unearth the ancient prophesies of an obscure monk. Forced to return to England, Ross and Carson find the Folio and uncover a link between the prophesies and the Testament of an eighteenth century priest, a connection which forewarns of the society’s murderous role in the present.
In a chilling climax, Ross and Carson are confronted by the society and learn the awful truth behind the terrible tragedy in Paris of August 1997.
About the Author
James Murphy was born in Liverpool and educated at St Mary’s College (my old Alma Mater!), and Leeds University.
In addition to The Vale of Tears, he has written a trilogy of spy novels, Cedar, Juniper and Ash; and two works of non-fiction, The Murder of Julia Wallace and Liverpool VCs, an absorbing account of the unusually high number of servicemen from that City who have won the country’s highest award for Valour.