Books relating to historical crime fiction in Birmingham - co-written with Stephen Burrows

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Black Over Bill’s Mothers – a storm is coming. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916168035/

‘It's 1942 and a Birmingham girl has a one-night stand with a black American GI. Nine months later she has twins - one black, one white. This is their story, and that of their rival, an Irish lad who ‘dances with the devil’ in the form of the IRA. Police, gangsters, bikers, terrorism, historical events, and an epic, twisting plot that spans four decades, taking the reader from the streets of Birmingham and Worcester to Ireland, New York, California and Cyprus. Grounded in Birmingham and packed with local language and locations, this is a Brummie book with UK appeal by Brummie authors Michael Layton and Stephen Burrows. Set predominantly in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, in Birmingham, Ireland, New York and California, Black Over Bill’s Mother’s is a huge dose of nostalgia, history and culture. A fast – moving and gripping story of a family falling apart, featuring police, Hells Angels, and gangs in a struggle for supremacy. The plot winds through five decades before a gripping conclusion full of twists and turns. Incorporating genuine historical events and locations, imbued with police slang, music and culture of the times, this book is in the tradition of ‘Peaky Blinders’, and could be the next generation. This is a book to appeal to all lovers of historical fiction, family sagas and violent crime thrillers.’

Extract: ‘Chapter Fifteen - ‘Love Is a Many Splendoured Thing’ (Four Aces) 1955.

The film ‘Blackboard Jungle’ had crashed into the UK teenage world in November 1955, with its ‘satanic’ rock and roll anthem ‘Rock Around the Clock’. The ‘Teddy Boy problem’ continued to puzzle older heads who had never seen a teenage cult before. Further afield a ‘state of emergency’ was declared in Cyprus as the ‘EOKA’ guerrilla campaign began, and more British troops were sent to keep the peace in a part of the Empire that was more than three and a half thousand miles away.

Lombardi’s was thriving, and with it the gang’s new side-line.

Sid had proved a real asset. He was good at selling and had an instinctive grasp of how to maximize the market without drawing unwelcome attention from the adult world. Despite that, he could never be a full part of the group. He had no interest in bikes and was drawn to other tribes.

Despite his size and looks, Quinn quickly realized that the crater-faced youth lacked the internal fire and aggression that drove the likes of him, and in fact had no interest in, or propensity for, violence. He also had a dangerous secret, one that Joey had confided to Quinn early in the business arrangement.

Sid clearly preferred boys and was struggling with the internal agonies of accepting this revelation in a world where acting upon his desires, even in private, was vilified and still an offence in the eyes of the law.

Quinn hadn’t been bothered and hadn’t told the others. It was a weakness but one that he could exploit if necessary. In the meantime, he was content to file the knowledge away and keep a benevolent eye on his new business partner.

Joey on the other hand, was a perfect fit. He had proved himself with his fists on a couple of occasions when other groups had tried to challenge the bikers. He loved the thrill of riding together and the new friendships he had forged. Mr. Lombardi clearly approved, and a symbiotic arrangement had emerged.

The café benefited from the extra custom and the bike boys keeping order, Joey had a job and friends, and the gang had a base, a market for goods - and free coffee.

It was Christmas Eve 1955, and the café was packed, windows steaming and streaming, the Seeborg blasting out ‘Rock Around the Clock’ repeatedly, interspersed with relics of a dying musical era such as Slim Whitman’s ‘Rose Marie’, ‘Unchained Melody’ from Jimmy Young, and Dickie Valentine’s ‘Christmas Alphabet’.

Quinn and Joey were sat in the usual corner seat viewing the mayhem. She came in with a squat, burly male. They were arguing. Quinn couldn’t hear them but his instinct for trouble had instantly zeroed his attention onto the couple.

She was taller, but he looked older, in his early twenties, against her late teens. She wasn’t a classic reed-like beauty, more of an Amazonian build, but she had an intelligent, interesting face crowned with russet hair cut in a boyish ‘Audrey Hepburn’ style.

She was shaking her head and he liked the way she stood up to the man, facing him down, and clearly contributing in full to the argument. Some of the other customers were beginning to take notice and Quinn caught the eye of Mr. Lombardi who indicated the couple in the doorway with a nod, the usual sign he wanted something done.

Quinn stood up and motioned Joey to stay where he was, “I’ll sort this.”

As he approached, he saw the man take hold of the girls arm tightly, clearly causing discomfort as she tried to break free. He could hear them now. “Slut, I’ve told you before to keep your eyes to yourself.”

She slapped his face with her free hand as Quinn reached them. As the man pulled his arm back for a punch Quinn caught hold of it and straight-armed the man up onto his toes. He twisted the hand inwards evoking a gasp of pain and a profanity. “Big man, you are, fighting a woman. Let her go or I’ll snap your wrist.” He gave the arm another twist for emphasis.

The man did let go but only so that he could try and twist around and free himself. He was strong and Quinn struggled to hold him. They danced a few steps then Joey was there, holding the door open at the behest of his father who had one eye on the damage potential. Quinn propelled the man out onto the street and hurled him away into the road.

The man stumbled a few steps then turned, snorting out breaths. “I’ll kill you” he snarled, then charged head down, a tactic suited to his squat build that would probably have worked with any normal opponent found on the Worcester streets.

Quinn watched his approach then performed his trademark sidestep and delivered a crushing blow to the kidneys, and then a push that assisted the charging man into the door stanchion which shook with the impact. As the man rebounded Quinn crashed a foot down behind one knee forcing the man to his knees and delivered a double-handed blow to the back of the neck. It was over in seconds and Quinn was kneeling on the man’s back.

Quinn whispered into a visible ear. “I promise that if you don’t fuck-off when I let you go, I’ll do you a serious injury or worse. I’ve done it before and to harder men than you. I think you and the girl are finished too – Oh and by the way you’re barred from this café.”

Quinn stood up and backed away several steps. It took a minute or two before the man recovered enough to stand, wobbling and with blood streaming from a nasty cut on his forehead courtesy of the door pillar. Quinn could see him assessing the percentages and the risk of further public humiliation. Seconds passed then Quinn knew it was over – for tonight at least.

The man shot him a look of hatred as he backed away, “This isn’t over you dirty bastard!” then limped off into the evening. Quinn returned to the café. The girl was still stood inside the door, rubbing her arm. He could see livid finger marks that must have hurt. He was impressed – not a tear in sight. She had guts. “Come and have a coffee with Joey and me, it’s on the house, Joey here is related,” he said. Joey smiled in encouragement and led the way to the corner seat.

Quinn was surprised to hear a smattering of applause as he walked through the crowd. The moment passed and it was back to normal, but Quinn knew that he had made a mark tonight. Word would get round. The girl sat and smoothed her clothes. She spoke with a soft Worcestershire burr that he immediately liked. “Thanks, I can usually handle him, but he was a bit pissed. I think our time together had come to an end anyway. It’s ‘Take Your Pick’ time and as Michael Miles says on the telly, I think I’ll say No!”

They all burst out laughing at her quick wit, “I couldn’t stand his insane jealousy any longer. You need to watch him though, He can be nasty, and he’ll never forgive you for showing him up in public.” Quinn shrugged, “What’s his name in case I have to teach the lesson again?” “Johnny Gray. He lives in the Arboretum,” she responded, slowly relaxing. “More importantly, what’s your name? I’m Pat, Pat Quinn.” “Jennifer – Jenny Lea. I mean it about Johnny, he won’t forget what you did, and he’ll think you did it to pick me up which’ll make it worse.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow, “What makes you think I didn’t?” She laughed and turned on a coquettish expression. “What would a nice-dressed girl like me see in a rough biker?” ….’

Keep Right On https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916168043/

‘Within the world of warring football clans in the hot summer of 1976, something stirs - an unlikely love between a young couple on opposing sides.1976. Birmingham. Aston Villa and Birmingham City football clubs are both in the First Division. They are old rivals, whose hooligan ‘football firms’ are locked in a vicious struggle for supremacy. Two criminal families, The Murphys and the Carters, control the firms, and they hate each other. But love crosses the boundaries between them, setting off a tragic chain of events. Can it prevail over the violence? Corrupt cop Rob Docker returns, and this time he wants revenge. In the background, the National Front fight on the streets, racism is on the rise, and it’s the hottest summer in living memory. In the 1970s, the ‘beautiful’ game was tarnished by the scourge of football hooliganism across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, as rival gangs fought each other for the accolade of being one of the ‘top firms’. Saturday afternoons became the focus for some of those emboldened by alcohol to engage in mindless incidents of disorder and violence, whilst the younger ‘up and comers’ sought to establish their place in the pecking order. At the rotten core of this activity were groups of men who inflicted pain and injury on a routine basis. For the most part they were hard, calculating, organised and brutal in their quest to both maintain ‘territory’ and to take it from others. Status and belonging was everything. This historical crime fiction novel features two such groups of organised hooligans both of whom operated in Birmingham. In the days before ‘Apex’ and the ‘Zulu Warriors’, Mike Carter runs a team of hooligans with affiliations to Birmingham City Football Club. His archenemy is Colin Murphy who leads a like-minded group affiliated to Aston Villa Football Club. Their stories are told against the backcloth of the 1975/76 football season, with factual accounts of many the games, when the names of stars such as Trevor Francis and Andy Gray were revered by the supporters. Battling the violence is a third tribe – the police – and Detective Inspector Rob Docker makes a return from ‘Black Over Bill’s Mothers’ to use every means possible, whether lawful or otherwise, to destroy both groups, as the ever-increasing levels of violence lead to murder. On the streets of Birmingham, another struggle is being played out as the National Front try to seize the hearts and minds of some of those whose first love was the game of football. Whilst hooligans commit what are routinely so-called ‘mindless acts’, the reality is that they live, breathe, think, and feel pain and emotion just like another other ‘normal person’ does. Some of them even fall in love, and this story focuses upon the emotional awakening of a vicious thug, tamed by a pretty girl, as raw emotion clashes with raw violence. ‘Keep Right On’ Is a love story entwined with football hooliganism and has plenty of surprises along the way. It will be enjoyed by lovers of a good story, football fans, those who seek a glimpse into the underside of the hooligan world and those fascinated by the history of the 1970s.’

Extract: ‘A well-known nightspot, ‘The Locarno’ in Hurst Street:

‘The Locarno, just next to the Hippodrome Theatre, also had a very strict code on under-age drinking, as well as a requirement for males to wear a shirt and tie…….as invited friends and family gathered in the private (Bali Hai) party-room, surrounded by false palm trees and tropical wall murals.

Upon arrival Joy had entered through the front double doors, down four steps and into the reception area past the cloakroom, a hangover from the Locarno’s ballroom dancing past and the toilets. A short corridor and through double doors into the main dance hall, with its sprung floor, now occupied by disco dancing, not Salsas and Tangos.

The glitter balls were still there, casting a constellation of coloured lights as they span, and she suddenly realised that everything glowed white in the beams of several cleverly positioned UV lights.

Towards the entrance to the Bali Hai the resident band ‘Red Sun’ were on stage playing their cover versions. As she traversed the main room, they had struck up the new and fast-selling future number one, ‘You to Me Are Everything’ by the ‘Real Thing….’

The Touch of Innocence https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1916168019/

‘Docker is back! Corrupt and ruthless Detective, Rob Docker, gets enmeshed in the evil world of paedophiles, and has to fight for his own survival in the only way he knows, by making his own rules. ‘The Touch of Innocence’ is much more than a novel – it is a hard-hitting and grittily realistic indictment of the damage caused by possibly the worst crime of all – child abuse. The authors confronted this evil during their Police service and witnessed the damage it causes, the lives blighted forever. Based on a true experiences, ‘The Touch of Innocence’, a work of historical crime fiction, tells the explosive story of the consequences of society failing to carry out its duty of care to protect children. Set in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire areas in the 1970s, the story tackles the disturbing subject of ‘paedophile rings’ operating through the prism of children in care. Corruption is rife and the guilty are protected by powerful and shadowy forces from the highest levels of society. Nothing and no-one are as they seem. Above all, this a story where the lines between good and evil are constantly blurred, victims and perpetrators are at times hard to define, and some pay the ultimate price for their actions. ‘The Touch of Innocence’ the fourth in the loosely linked series of ‘Made in Birmingham’ books, sees the return of corrupt detective Rob Docker, together with a number of characters from the previous books. It can be read as a complete story, or as the latest book in the series.’

Review: ‘I had not expected to find this book so absorbing.... although fiction, it paints a vivid and disturbing picture of both physical and sexual abuse of vulnerable young boys perpetrated by individuals in positions of authority, who have formed a secret society. The very dark side of organised paedophilia is explored alongside the failures of care within families, schools and especially in Children's Homes. Almost in parallel the author reveals to readers the difficulties within the police service where those guardians of society are themselves flawed human beings with prejudices and weaknesses. A very dark study indeed but as a psychiatrist I found it a very compelling read and congratulate the authors for tackling this difficult subject and highlighting some very complex issues!’

This was a particularly challenging book to write given the subject matter but ‘staying in the shallow end’ of writing due to the risk of not wishing to upset readers is a difficult one to gauge. Writing is a medium for provoking thought and highlighting social issues even if the content of the book is fiction. In this context books can in my opinion contribute towards social change.

As individuals have different pain thresholds so do readers have different levels of tolerance particularly when it comes to acts of violence. This book is in no way gratuitous in the way it describes events, and the subject matter was deliberately dealt with in this manner.?

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