Readers can win a signed copy of either Serial Damage & Pass the Prosecco

Putney's Liz Cowley & Donough O'Brien are a husband and wife writing team who independently are a best-selling poet and non-fiction author respectively. This year they have combined their considerable writing talent to deliver a compelling police procedural that promises a deranged and seemingly unstoppable murderer, a strong female protagonist and a killer twist. As if creating Serial Damage was not enough, Liz has also released her latest book of poems - Pass the Prosecco.

Seemingly ordinary and innocent people suddenly start to become the victims of a vicious killer on an international scale - but with no motive and no pattern, who will be next and how can he be stopped? A series of apparently unconnected murders takes place in equally disconnected locations all over the world. In fact, they are the result of one man's obsessive mind, arising from a series of slights and disappointments since childhood for which he seeks methodical and terrible revenge. Because of the geographical spread of his mysterious, 'motiveless' murders, they might normally be impossible to solve, but inexperienced but ambitious police psychologist Alice Diamond may unwittingly hold the dramatic key to his capture.

In Pass the Prosecco Liz explores the funny side of cooking – turning her wicked wit on everything from disastrous supper parties (and people on mobile phones during them), or guests turning up on the wrong night to hilarious observations about food pretentions, gluten-free demons, diet fads and the clutter of unread cookbooks that collect in our kitchens like tumble weed. Drawing on situations, disasters, humorous moments, the desperation and hard labour all cooks will recognise — with views on TV foodie shows (yes Mary Berry gets a mention), and passing take out for home made to name a few scenarios and you even get a recipe for Chilled Cucumber & Mint soup - what a great Christmas gift!

Donough O’Brien, an experienced broadcaster and media commentator, has lived in Putney for nearly thirty years, having moved from Chelsea and then Fulham. He thinks Putney is one of the very best places to live in London. Donough, before turning to writing, enjoyed a successful marketing career in Europe and the US. His previous ‘quirky history’ books include Fame by Chance, Numeroids, In the Heat of the Battle and Banana Skins which covered the secrets of the slips and screw-ups that brought the famous down to earth.(quirkyhistory.com) and his latest historical book was 'WHO? The most remarkable people you’ve never heard of'.

November 11, 2016