A former police officer turned crime writer has released his 10th book which includes stories about murders in Lancaster.
Barry Lees' new book 'Half an Hour to Kill' is a compliation of 10 short fictional crime stories, many of which are set in Lancaster.
They include a murder in a field near to the Lancaster Canal, whilst and another bears a distinct similarity to Lancaster Castle's days as a prison.
The Saturday park run in Williamson Park provides the origins of another grisly homicide and the Vale of Lune rugby club sees some skulduggery on the pitch on a matchday.
Besides the local connections, there is an international flavour to some of the stories too. A Covid quarantine fraud in Sierra Leone, a mystifying murder in a Parisian Hotel and the inner thoughts of a pickpocket on the London Underground also add to the diversity of the collection.
Barry, who worked for the police for 30 years, has also used places in the city in which to set his stories in previous books.
Having retired from Lancashire Police, Barry gained an honours degree in English and Creative Writing at the Lancaster campus of the University of Cumbria at Bowerham Road, Lancaster, before becoming a lecturer in Policing and Criminology.
He is also a director of Vale of Lune Rugby Club and their match day correspondent, providing reports for Beyond Radio.
"I have visited many places but I didn't need to look very far from home to find locations for these tales," he said.
"Lancaster has a rich and varied landscape, providing great settings for stories.
"I was fortunate to have a short story published in a collection in Australia, I enjoyed this new discipline so much, I wrote an entire volume of them.
"It has been a temporary departure from my usual offerings. I am currently writing another full length novel for release in 2025."
The cover design of 'Half an Hour to Kill' is by Lancaster artist Lidia Ranns.
Through collaboration with Lidia and her partners in the Proper Lovely craft and gift shop on Marketgate, Lancaster, the new book, along with some of Barry's earlier novels, is now available to buy in paperback at Proper Lovely, as well as on Kindle Books online.
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