When Shadeys Bank loses another C.E.O. to a scandal, they are desperate to show they've reformed. Who better to present their redemption than a country vicar?
Reverend Tom Goodman is ousted from his job as a country vicar for allowing a homeless family to stay in the church hall. Meanwhile, a major bank is trying to rescue its image after the latest in a long string of financial scandals. It seems like the perfect match and Goodman is hastily appointed as the bank's new C.E.O. All they have to do is promote him as their new figurehead whilst also keeping him away from the day-to-day business of dubious banking. Unfortunately for Shadeys, Tom is planning on making a difference. And so begins an epic battle of wills. The might of a multi-billion-pound bank versus a seemingly naïve country vicar.
"Like reading your favourite sitcom." - Nigel Planer
Tinker's Cottage nestles in a forgotten corner of deepest Somerset. It also happens to sit on a weak point in the space time continuum... which is somewhat unfortunate for Ian Faulkener, a graphic novelist from London, who was hoping for some peace and quiet in which to recuperate following a very messy breakdown. It was the cats that first alerted Ian to the fact that something was not quite right with Tinker's Cottage... the cats, and of course the Pope, disappearing literary agents, mislaid handymen and the insanity of Cherie Blair World. As Ian tries to untangle the mystery of the doors of Tinker's cottage he risks becoming lost forever in the myriad alternate universes predicted by Schrodinger. Not to mention his cats. Schrodinger's Cottage is a playful romp through a variety of alternate worlds peopled by an array of wonderful comic characters that are the trademark of David Luddington's novels. For fans of the sadly missed Douglas Adams, Schrodinger's Cottage is a heart-warming comedy with touches of inspired lunacy that pays homage to The Hitchhiker's Guide.
When ex-SAS soldier, Michael Purdy, comes in front of the judge for hacking the bank account belonging to the Minister for Invalidity Benefits and wiping out his personal wealth, he braces himself for a prison sentence.
What Michael doesn't expect, is to be put in charge of a group of offenders and sent to a remote location in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain to teach them survival skills as part of their rehabilitation programme.
But Michael knows nothing at all about survival skills. He was sort of in the SAS, yes, but his shining record on the "Escape and Evasion" courses was more a testament to his computer skills than his ability to catch wildlife and barbecue it over an impromptu fire. Basically, he was the SAS's techy nerd and only achieved that position as a result of a bet with a fellow hacker.
Facing a stark choice between starvation or returning home to serve out their sentences, the group of offenders under Michael's supervision soon realise that the only way to survive is to use their own unique set of skills - the kind of skills that got them arrested in the first place.
Charles Tremayne is a spy out of his time. After a long career spent rescuing prisoners from the KGB or helping defectors across the Berlin Wall, the world has changed. The Wall has gone and no longer is there a need for a Russian speaking, ice-cold killer. Nowadays, state secrets are transmitted via satellite using impenetrable blowfish algorithms. Counting down the days to his retirement by babysitting drunken visiting politicos, he is seconded by MI6 for one last case. £250,000,000 of government money destined as a payoff for the dictator of a strategic African nation goes missing on its way to a remote Cornish airfield. Tremayne is dispatched to retrieve the money, and nothing is going to stand in his way. Armed with an IQ of 165 and a bewildering array of weaponry and gadgets, he is not about to be outmanoeuvred by the inhabitants of a small Cornish fishing village. Or is he? Bestselling author, David Luddington, weaves an engaging tale of one man's personal struggle with a world gone mad. It just so happens that the man who is struggling is a trained MI6 agent and the world with which he is struggling consists of fish & chips, cider and fudge. Not to mention the bungling Barry Penwrith, desperate to hang on to his windfall.
