NORTH Cornwall’s resident crime-thriller writer, Frank Westworth, has a new book out this week.

The Stoner Stories anthology collects his first quick thrillers – previously only available as ebooks – and includes an all-new, previously unpublished story, Special Relationship.

The Stoner Stories reveal the shadowy secrets of covert operative JJ Stoner, who uses sharp blades and blunt instruments to discreetly resolve tricky situations for the British government.

The six self-contained stories in this collection follow Stoner’s progress, from his final days as a serving soldier to his first private contract, and into the shadow land of the deniable asset.

Frank’s characters have been described as resembling ‘an intimate encounter between Jack Reacher and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’.

But his stories are firmly grounded in gritty reality and often discuss current events. Several of the plots were inspired by actual events; the Iraq war, the death of Dr David Kelly, the Good Friday agreement in Ireland – and Special Relationship imagines what might have happened behind the scenes, shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Discussing the impact of crime-thrillers, Frank said: “It’s often easier to discuss reality disguised as fiction. Crime thrillers are a safe place to discuss those things which scare us as much as they intrigue us. They’re a form of intelligent escapism which never goes out of fashion.”

Frank can often be seen taking a lunchtime stroll around Bude canal. If you’d like a signed copy of The Stoner Stories, just stop him and say so!

Alternatively, it is available in paperback or ebook from Amazon, or via the author’s website at www.murdermayhemandmore.net