Danny Boyle isn't all here. Years of destructive behavior have left him in an alcoholic coma. Meanwhile, his marriage is over, one of his children wants nothing to do with him, and the other suffers by his bedside. And while the complexities of life swirl around him, Danny, in his halfway state, comes face to face with his demons and struggles to understand them. He must confront the ghosts of his past – ghosts who have unfinished business with him. No one can be certain of where Danny's road is leading. But where it actually leads is far more surprising than any could have anticipated.The resounding conclusion to the Life & Times Trilogy, All Roads is a stirring ode to life's resilience and possibilities.

If you like Rumpole of the Bailey, you'll love Walden of BermondseyCharlie Walden, the irrepressible Resident Judge (RJ) of Bermondsey Crown Court is back with a new selection of cases. As ever, there is little rest for the RJ as he does his best to deal with the church-going carer who steals from the old lady under her care, the cleaver-wielding chefs wth different ideas about how to make a Caesar salad, the man with a penchant for 'marrying' multiple women and the astrological guru accused of fraud. Not to mention the shock-horror when colleagues get into trouble - Judge Hubert Drake for writing an angry letter to the press, and Judge Marjorie Jenkins for storing suspected pornography on her judicial computer. Oh, and the ongoing wars against the Grey Smoothies, who try to frustrate Charlie at every turn with their bureaucracy and their endless quest for value for money for the taxpayer.Praise for Walden of Bermondsey'No one writes with more...

Appropriately for Covid times, these are stories about characters faced by a confusing world and often living largely in isolation - yet with rich and intense interior lives, particularly when confronted by unusual circumstances... First published in 1986. The story 'Cane Toads' shared the short story prize in Western Australia's 150th Anniversary Competition with Peter Goldsworthy and two other writers. Peter Murphy works across a range of writing and art forms - poetry, plays, fiction and photography - often with a taste for the absurd as he contemplates the riddles of existence. His most recent work is a book of poetry, Finishing Stroke (2021).

1985, Cambridgeshire. An MPs wife is involved in a fatal car crash, and may be over the alcohol limit. Ben Schroeder QC returns to defend her but nothing is straightforward as he gets tangled in a web of political ambition and intrigue.A compulsive mix of crime fiction and legal thriller, exploring highly topical themes.

'This debt was not contracted as the price of bread or wine or arms. It was the price of liberty' - Alexander HamiltonKiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer, is just emerging from the most traumatic time of her life when actress Samantha ('Sam') van Eyck walks into her office, unannounced, with the case of a lifetime. She asks Kiah to recover a 200-year-old debt from the US Government - a debt that Alexander Hamilton may have acknowledged.The selfless generosity of Sam's ancestor, Jacob Van Eyck, in making a massive loan of gold and supplies at Valley Forge, during the freezing winter of 1777-1778, may well have saved George Washington's army, and the War of Independence, from disaster. But it reduced Jacob to ruin. Despite the government's promises, the debt was never repaid, and this hero of the American Revolution died in poverty, unknown and unrecognised.Two hundred years later, Sam and Kiah embark on a quest to change that. But first,...

When Audrey Marshall sends her daughter Emily to the religious boarding school where she herself was educated a generation before, memories return - memories of a culture of child sexual abuse presided over by a highly-regarded priest. Audrey turns to barrister Ben Schroeder in search of justice for Emily and herself. But there are powerful men involved, men determined to protect themselves at all costs. Will they succeed? Is there indeed one law for the rich and powerful, and one law for...? Praise for Peter Murphy'An intelligent amalgam of spy story and legal drama' - Times'Murphy's clever legal thriller revels in the chicanery of the English law courts of the period' - Independent

Charlie Walden is the Resident Judge of the Bermondsey Crown Court, where he had hoped for a quiet life, but has found it to be anything but. With the job of balancing the needs of prosecutors, judges, 'Grey Smoothies', the humourless grey-suited civil servants, and the overall needs of a Crown Court he soon finds himself struggling to keep the peace and his own delightful humour.Charlie is confronted by a number of topical issues he hadn't anticipated; invited to join the Court of Appeal he finds himself faced with a case involving the 'confusion' of one of his team. In another a teacher must be penalised for defacing a statue, a huge and mysterious cat comes to the rescue in yet another case, and so the harassed Judge must pick his way through this minefield of exasperating cases in order to keep everyone from the cannabis lobby to the anti-slave traders happy with his judgements.No hope of a quiet life for Charlie then, but, as ever, he deals with the...

A clever, accomplished Cambridge graduate with a good job and an attentive lover, Imogen Lester seems to have the world at her feet. But when her parents are murdered abroad while working for the Diplomatic Service, she is suddenly thrown headlong into a murky world of espionage and organized crime. When she is charged with drug trafficking, even Ben Schroeder's skills may not be enough to save her, unless a shadowy figure from Ben's past can survive long enough to unmask a web of graft and corruption.

Calling Down the Storm is the story of two separate but strangely parallel lives: the life of a defendant on trial for murder, and the life of the judge who presides over his trial.April 1971.When DI Webb and DS Raymond arrive at Harpur's Mews in Bloomsbury in response to a 999 call, a horrific scene awaits them. Susan Lang is lying on the ground, bleeding to death. Her husband Henry is sitting nearby, holding a large, blood-stained knife. In shock, Henry claims to have no memory of the events that led to his wife's death leaving his barrister, Ben Schroeder, little to defend a potential charge of murder.Unknown to his strict Baptist wife Deborah who lives in the family home in Guildford, Mr Justice Conrad Rainer has a secret life in his London flat, a life as a high-stakes gambler. In his desperation for money to fund his gaming, he has already raided his own and Deborah's resources, and now he has crossed another line - one from which there is no return.To...

1 July 1969. The Investiture of the new Prince of Wales. When Arianwen Hughes is arrested driving with a homemade bomb near Caernarfon Castle, her case seems hopeless. Her brother Caradog, her husband Trevor, and their friend Dafydd are implicated in the plot, the evidence against them damning. Ben Schroeder's reputation as a barrister is riding high after the cases of Billy Cottage (A Matter for the Jury) and Sir James Digby (And is There Honey Still for Tea?). But defending Arianwen will be his greatest challenge yet. Trevor may hold the only key to her defense, but he is nowhere to be found.

Already fast becoming a classic among coming-of-age tales, John the Revelator has garnered praise from Nick Laird, Colm Tóibín, Roddy Doyle, and John Boyne, and is a critical darling in the U.K.This is the story of John Devine—stuck in a small town in the otherworldly landscape of southeastern Ireland, worried over by his single, chain-smoking, Bible-quoting mother, Lily, and spied on by the “neighborly" Mrs. Nagle. When Jamey Corboy, a self-styled Rimbaudian boy wonder, arrives in town, John's life suddenly seems full of possibility. His loneliness dissipates. He is taken up by mischief and discovery, hiding in the world beyond as Lily's mysterious illness worsens. But Jamey and John's nose for trouble may be their undoing, and soon John will be faced with a terrible moral dilemma.Joining the ranks of the great novels of friendship and betrayal—A Separate Peace, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha...

1964 brings fresh challenges to Ben Schroeder, now a member of chambers headed by Bernard Wesley QC. A courting couple have been attacked on the banks of the River Ouse near Ely. The news of beating, rape and murder soon become January's sensational headlines. Schroeder is called to assist the defence but lead QC, Martin Hardcastle, has a reputation that goes before him. As the pressure mounts, talk of alcoholism fills the courtroom with Hardcastle's repeated absences and seemingly reckless actions risking the support of his team. And when a shock decision is made, it is left to Ben and his colleague, Jess, to deal with the consequences. With the case drawing mass media attention and public opinion turning against capital punishment, Schroeder must once again face the prejudice, scandal and corruption of the brutal courtroom reality and its verdict on the fate of a man's life.

The Third Ben Schroeder Novel. 1965. The British Establishment is reeling after a series of defections and acts of treachery by high-ranking Intelligence Officers. When Francis Hollander, an American academic, accuses Sir James Digby QC, a Baronet and a leader of the Bar, of being a Soviet spy, Digby retains Ben Schroeder and his head of Chambers to represent him. At first, it seems to be a simple case of libel, but as evidence starts to emerge of Digby's association with the Cambridge Spies, and as MI6 becomes involved, Ben can no longer be sure that he can save Digby from prosecution and ruin. To obtain vital evidence, Ben will have to put his career at risk. But will it be enough? If you are a fan of John Grisham, and enjoyed BBC One's legal drama Silk, then you'll love Peter Murphy's And Is The Still Honey for Tea!