Christopher Bowden: The Amber Maze

While staying in a Dorset cottage, Hugh Mullion finds a mysterious key down the side of an antique chair. No one can say how long the key has been there or what it opens.

Hugh’s search for answers will unlock the secrets of the troubled life of a talented artist, destined to be hailed a neglected genius fifty years too late.

And no secret is darker than that of The Amber Maze, from whose malign influence he never escaped. The trail takes Hugh from Edwardian Oxfordshire to 1960s Camden Town, where the ghosts of the past are finally laid to rest.

This is delicately crafted noir fiction at its best.

Barbara Lee: A Year in the Half-Life 1992

It Is 1992, and the recession is biting hard. Imogen Kent has never been unemployed before, but finds herself unfairly ejected from her job, and wonders how she will cope. She gets by with odd bits of temp work, babysitting and occasional petty crime. She is not helped by her tricky relationship with her judgemental parents.

As Imogen navigates her way through the year, she encounters obstacles such as being sent on a useless course by the Job Centre, having to move out of her flat, and facing her old friends at a school reunion. As if that weren’t enough, an old boyfriend, Mick, suddenly comes into her life, but he is as badly off as she is.

Can Imogen keep her optimism (not to mention her sanity) into 1993?

Dominic Canty: Dead Men Should Know Better

The world’s most notorious arms trafficker – Gunboat Charlie Chavez – is back on the radar. MI6 must keep tabs, but, with no field operatives available, they send IT Support Officer Bristo Trabant. His mission: go to Cannes and report back who Gunboat is meeting. But it’s a dark and dangerous world of seductive hostesses and razor-toothed assassins.

Trabant tries to keep a low profile, but just one wrong word uttered at the wrong moment sets off a chain of events so severe it threatens the very stability of the British Government. Only the most ingenious strategy can possibly save the day. But first, Trabant must somehow stay alive.

From Pimlico to Panama City, via the French Riviera, join Bristo on his debut mission. Life-threatening card games, life-saving water pistols, life-changing romance. It’s a hilarious read, but in the most dangerous of worlds.

Please Note: Age 16+

Tickets £5

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