Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

At the heart of the British State lies a secret to keep which a cabal of shadowy establishment figures is authorised to kill. At the centre of the drama is a family with baggage from the past which has access to the truth and determines to expose it. That provokes a battle of wits among security services on both sides of the Atlantic, with links into Russia, Germany, France and Africa. A gripping narrative taking place in the modern day with a cast of ruthless characters determined to kill their way to victory. Male and female, old and young, engaging yet sinister, none quite what they seem. A sophisticated thriller of unusual pace and power written in an edgy modern style. Over 400 pages.

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It is now impossible to see a way forward or predict what will happen.  On the one hand May declares she is 95% there for a good deal, but on the other she is faced with her own party split in every direction, able to agree about nothing and resorting to the language of gangland. On the other hand it is very unlikely that she will be able to get any deal through parliament, because of a lack of consensus on what would be good for the country. Members are vociferous about what they are against, but woolly and unreal about what they are for.

On top of that comes the infamous border issue with Northern Ireland. There are only two solutions which will actually work. Neither is acceptable enough to go forward. Either the whole UK stays in the customs union and the single market or Northern Ireland, which voted Remain, dumps the DUP and joins up with the South to create a united Ireland. This is bound to happen sooner or later anyway. Remember how impossible a united Germany once seemed?

Now we move onto the EU and what it collectively can accept. Unlike the unitary single state of the UK, now sundered politically in a fashion unknown for centuries, the EU 27 stand firm, united and of one mind. And whatever waffle comes out of London about close and enduring relationships, it will never agree to anything that compromises any part of its Union. So it looks as if we are already on the cliff edge. The government may survive for years or it may be gone within a week. Parliament may come to its senses or it might be forced to delegate the decision to the people in a second referendum.

So the two most likely outcomes now are that either we crash out with no agreement into legal mayhem.

Or we have a cup of tea, clear our heads and crash back in.

Readers asked the author ‘What inspired you to write this new series?’

Tor Raven replied.

‘First I read nearly a hundred modern thrillers, all on Kindle, in the crime genre, written often by female authors. A few were American, the rest were British, Scandinavian and Icelandic. I learned the kind of thing go getters like to read, very different in style to the traditional stuff I had been writing. I spent time talking to young people, absorbing how they use and speak English, which has evolved significantly since social media burst upon us. I saw that a lot of fiction is read on phones while multi-tasking, or on tablets if more relaxed. It is rare to see a book on a plane or train now. But for those who prefer, in addition to the e-book, Zara also comes in full size paperback with easy read print.

The pressures in our modern society cry out for a strong heroine who knows her mind and thrives on challenge. Zara will not let you down. As for the choice of name? It is international and once you say Zara Vine twice it sticks in your head and you never forget it. Finally, to introduce her to you, I selected the darkest subject matter that troubles everybody and is shaking all public institutions, especially the church, to the core.

Now read Book One! You will be gripped from the start and I think you will like Zara Vine. This is the first in a series, so there is lots more Zara to come.’

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President Trump’s most recent remark that he is now not satisfied with the Saudi explanation that the journalist died in a fight at the consulate in Turkey, in the midst of a conversation with Saudi officials, was greeted with incredulity across the world. One man fighting fifteen officials? Why were the officials flown in for this meeting? Why was one of them a pathologist carrying a bone saw in his luggage? Where is the body? Why did the Saudi government lie and say he had left the building in one piece?

Initially Trump, whose strategy was to create a pathway down which his ally, in whom he has invested far too much political capital, could escape from a calamitous miscalculation more or less unscathed, declared the explanation plausible and one he could likely accept. A backlash from almost everyone both inside and outside the US has provoked a rethink. Now it is up to Turkey to come forward with the outcome of its extensive investigation, backed by evidence which leaves no room for doubt. Only then can a decision be made about punishing the Saudis. Meanwhile America needs to re-evaluate its strategy in the Middle East. Too many eggs in too few baskets in an area where almost everything is wrong is asking for the very kind of trouble Trump now finds himself in.

The narrow, ordered life of a gentle but  reclusive artist,  is disturbed when a bequest, intended for her dead mother, passes to her. Mystery surrounds the nature of the inheritance and Jane Block is led on a sinister trail to secrets of the past, forcing her to confront her own fears and inhibitions. She finds herself caught in a frightening quest to unravel a mysterious cover-up from World War Two, and in so doing finds intrigue, love and betrayal.

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St.John Whilloe is the black sheep member of a wealthy legal family, whose firm of solicitors looks after the affairs of many of the top families in the country. He is consulted by a young woman who claims to be frightened by her husband. Things are not as they seem and St.John finds himself drawn into a complex web of intrigue and murder. He is soon in a race against time to solve a mystery with roots in a tortured family history, with sinister paranormal undertones.

Shocking as the murder of Jamal Khashoggi undoubtedly is and welcome as the widespread withdrawal from attending ‘Davos in the Desert’ of most of the leading politicians from the West including the US and UK is also, it is time to turn the same level of determination to stop the war in Yemen.

Up to 13 million civilians now face death by famine as a consequence of the ruthless air bombardment by the Saudis on the Iran backed rebels. Nothing can justify this. What is more 90% of the weapons used are manufactured and supplied by the US and UK, allies of the increasingly isolated Saudi regime. It is time to tell them that the price of the alliance is that the bombing stops. Whist allowing room for compromise to preserve the partnership if feasible, we must give a powerful signal to the Saudis that all is not well with them.

Using the full potential of digital publishing linked to formatting and uploading skills, I am able to offer readers a choice of book style in the new gripping  Zara Vine Dark Crime Series to suit their taste and mood. This may be a first, so be one of the first buy! Contents identical for all. Click links for full details. In paperback and Kindle   Amazon UK.  Amazon US. 

This is the original with full Maff Robinson designed wrap around cover, part hand painted, part digital. The book is in the American 6 x 9 inch format with #14 case print, making it a very easy read.

Here we have the British popular paperback size, 5 x 7 inch, which fits more easily into a bag or pocket when travelling, with an impact cover which cannot be missed if you read in public! #12 case print to make for a compact package.

A combination of the Maff Robinson Image and digital, 6 x 9 inch format but with the smaller case #12 print, making a slimmer volume.

One cannot disagree with the principle of innocent until proven guilty. But the accused has, before coming to trial,  to explain their proximity to whatever crimes they are alleged to have committed. Failure to do so convincingly leads to prosecution. During the trial the principle of innocence applies.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, the journalist enters the consulate and fails to emerge. Up to fifteen Saudi security agents are known to have entered the building including a post mortem doctor armed with a bone saw. Recordings apparently exist of Mr. Khashoggi’s interrogation, torture and death in the consulate. There is even more we are not being told. The Saudi Government must explain all this. Denial is not enough. Until it can prove all these things did not happen, or happened without its authority (insiders say that notion is the most implausible of all), the Saudi Government remains a suspect. In fact the only one.

As the weekend draws to a close no one doubts that we are now entering the end game of the dramatic fight in the Tory party over what kind of Brexit to go for. But nobody has a clue how the game will end.

I think it is no exaggeration to say that never since the industrial revolution has Britain been so badly served by its governing class. Without taking sides, one can see that Brexit is a legal and administrative process of such complexity that it is unique. This does not mean it cannot be done. But to do it requires cool heads and calm nerves and a unity of purpose among all those tasked to deliver the project. Instead we have been living in one long continuous row. In the Tory party. Which is the government.

Now we learn that a cabinet rebellion is openly proposed by a former minister, in the national interest. Certain cabinet ministers are said to be meeting over a Pizza to discuss tactics before the next scheduled cabinet on Tuesday, prior to May’s visit to the Brussels summit on Wednesday. The Brexit Secretary has rushed to Brussels for talks with the head of the EU negotiating authority. The Scottish Secretary (a member of May’s cabinet) and Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, have written to the PM and said they will not tolerate different treatment of Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK to solve the Irish border issue. The DUP have threatened to vote down the budget if they do not get their way. European politicians are exasperated by the impossibility of conducting negotiations with a country which cannot agree what it wants.

Anything can happen now,  so no predictions what. Except we may be headed for another fudge. But it might be too late even for that.