Cirrus@Austlit

'Star Cleary – young, beautiful, but with a deeply troubled past – assists the late middle-aged woman known as Mother Mary at the East End Nine-to-Five Shelter for the homeless. The shelter is rumoured to be funded by Krait Beaney, the head of the feared London Beaney gang, who is definitely both a friend and minder of both Star and Mary.'

'Through a bizarre twist of fate, Star, while on an errand for Mary, helps an old woman who has been brutally attacked in the street. A day or two later, the same old woman is found murdered in her home and having been given a gift by the old woman for having helped her, Star finds herself placed ‘in the frame’ by the police for her murder.

'Ever present is the escalating war between the two rival London gangs, the Beaney brothers and Johnnie “the Boot” Swann when Johnnie, in revenge for his having been disrespected by Krait, orders the savage murder of Stick Beaney, the Beaneys’ baby brother, who is both slightly physically and mentally handicapped.

'Never test a gangster’s family honour.

'It was no mistake that Krait Beaney was named after a deadly black Indian snake. Put one foot wrong where his family is concerned and he will strike out. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow nor the day thereafter, but strike out he will. And with deadly intent. Something Johnnie Swann was going to learn the hard way.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'GONE BAD continues the story from BAD APPLE, an East End gangster thriller, of Star Cleary, Mary, who manages the Nine-to-Five Shelter with Star’s help, and the gang war between the Beaneys, who are rumoured to finance the shelter, and the Swann gang… A war that escalates out of control with devastating consequences for all concerned.'

'Star Cleary’s life, following the death of her beloved father, becomes a nightmare. As far as the police are concerned, she is still in the frame for the murder of Lily Henderson, and worse is to come. She is being blackmailed by Shaun Sawle, the contact man who set up the Henderson hit. Sawle has arranged another hit. Big money is at stake and Star finds herself with no alternative but to take on the contract. Further pressure is brought to bear on Star by her selfishly self-centred mother, Stephanie, this time in the form of emotional blackmail.

'Be careful what you wish for, it is said. Star would know better than to wish for anything, although Mary might have been tempted to make this mistake when her feckless Irish nephew, Brian, who is on the run from the Garda, suddenly turns up on the shelter’s front doorstep, seeking refuge. He and Mary share a secret so terrible that Mary’s life ultimately hangs in the balance, and it is on the strength of this shared secret that Brian blackmails his aunt to get him a job with Krait Beaney, the boss of the Beaney gang… Something Brian wished for, but would have done better to think through first, and was later to regret.

'Vicky Swann and her daughter, Libby, don’t just make the mistake of wishing for something, they take the steps necessary to ensure that they get it by arranging for Johnnie “the Boot” Swann, to be murdered while he and Vicky are on their honeymoon in the Caribbean. Libby Swann takes over the Swann gang from her father, and then sets about making a catalogue of mistakes, not least of which is thinking that she is Krait Beaney’s equal and that by bringing pressure to bear, he will agree to a merger between the two gangs.

'The East End Nine-to-Five Shelter story isn’t going to end there. There will be more to come of the shelter, Star and the detective from the Met, who loves her and tries to protect her, and the ever-increasing hostilities between the Beaney and Swann gangs. It is going to get messy!'

Source : publisher's blurb

'This is it, payback, and Johnnie “the Boot” Swann, boss of the East End Swann gang, has a master plan for taking out his rivals, the Beaney brothers and with them, Star Cleary, and it isn’t going to be with all guns blazing. It all looks good for Johnnie, but then what goes round, comes round. Johnnie would have done well to remember this and been ready to expect the unexpected. No one could say he wasn’t warned.

'The story of the Nine-to-Five Shelter continues in BAD book #4, scheduled to be published in 2016. The unexpected for Johnnie doesn’t end with BAD FELLAS. And he isn’t the only one to be caught up in what is to come. It is a bolt from the blue, and something neither he nor the Beaney brothers and in particular, Star Cleary, would have ever considered possible.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Star Cleary wasn’t the only one who failed to foresee the shadow that, for years, had been stealthily darkening every footstep she took, or to even suspect that now, the time was right to reveal itself and turn her life upside-down. Like an octopus lurking in deep, dark waters, its tentacles reach out and indelibly touch and irreversibly alter the lives of those, not only closest to her, but also of everyone around her. The two East End warring crime bosses, Krait Beaney and Johnnie “the Boot” Swann, are no exceptions. Not even the Nine-to-Five Shelter escapes from the ever-widening shadow that is cast, like a thick blanket, over all of their lives.'

'Initially, Johnnie sees the shadow in a quite different light, believing it to be an opportunity he might never get again to take out his hated rivals, the Beaney brothers. Krait Beaney sees what is coming from Johnnie, but is waiting for him, unfazed by the threat that overhangs his business empire and also threatens his reputation as a feared crime lord.

'Krait’s brother, Knuckles, sees things quite differently…

'‘You ain’t gonna call Johnnie’s bluff forever, Krait. There’s gonna come that one time when he comes out on top and crushes us.’

'And Krait’s reply…

'‘This isn’t it. And I’m surprised you can’t see it. We know too much.’

'But do they?

'Do any of them realise or even sense the impact the shadow that hangs over all of them is going to have on their lives?

'Those who don’t heed its threat and tread carefully around it pay the ultimate price. With their lives…'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Could this, finally, be the showdown between the two powerful East End gang bosses – Krait Beaney and Johnnie “the Boot” Swann?  Nothing could be sweeter.  Or so Johnnie thinks.  He’s got it all set up and, at long last, pictures himself in full control of all large scale criminal activity in the East End of London.  But, as has proved to be the case before, there is just one problem.  Family.  Frank Garibaldi, Johnnie’s son, who is wanted in the UK for the rape and murder of Star Cleary’s kennel maid and who was shipped out to Spain by his father, safely out of the reach of the law.  Permanently, Johnnie thought, but as so often has turned out for him in the past, if there’s a starting point where everything shows definite promise of going wrong for him, directly or indirectly, it can once again be laid at the door of a member of his family.'

'Star Cleary, manager of the Nine-to-five Shelter for its owner and benefactor. Krait Beaney, finds herself with a choice she vowed she would never make and is forced to face when her husband, DS Vincent Black, becomes obsessed with finding the hitman who was hired by Johnnie Swann to shoot and kill Mary O’Reilly.  Mary, who once managed the shelter with Star’s help, was in the wrong place at the wrong time and knew too much about what happened the night it was torched by Johnnie.

'Star makes the choice she was determined never to make, crossing the line into the East End gangsters’ world and, in so doing, places her own life in jeopardy when a sequence of totally unexpected events places her once again in the frame for murder.'

Source : publisher's blurb