Another New Thriller Set In Felixstowe!

Did you know that there are some very naughty goings-on in a couple of houses near Felixstowe Golf Club? Tens of millions of pounds are being laundered across a network of tax havens around the world, the dark web is being used to find a contract killer and the Serious Fraud Office is investigating.

Local author Alan Peck has followed up his earlier book, The Watchers, with a brand-new sequel, The Watcher’s Vengeance. The first book was Alan’s project during the first Covid-19 lockdown and the new book was written during the second and third lockdowns. The sequel was written in response to feedback Alan received on the first book, with many readers giving the same response. Namely, they wanted a sequel that would see one of the main characters get their comeuppance.

In The Watchers, two people witnessed a yacht being run down by a container ship entering Felixstowe. The witnesses disagreed over exactly what happened and the end result was two deaths, blackmail and a tangled web of deceit.

In the new book, one of the witnesses is seeking revenge over the other. The beautiful Saskia has a new boyfriend and a glamorous new lifestyle. The devious Jim believes she is hiding a lot and is determined to bring her down. A fast-moving tale portrays how these very wealthy Felixstowe residents pit their brains against each other. There can only be one winner.

Alan Peck moved from Cambridge to Ipswich some 15 years ago to marry Olly, following the loss of his first wife Liz to pancreatic cancer. He soon joined Felixstowe Coastwatch and has now been a Senior Watchkeeper for some 13 years. Having served in the Royal Navy as a hydrographic surveyor, Alan found his old skills refreshed by the requirements of Coastwatch.

These two books were both inspired by Coastwatch. The two main characters are watchkeepers at Seawatch, an organisation very similar to Coastwatch! 

Alan had previously written three books on IT and then two on the business side of floristry. When he left the Navy, he had a long career in IT and eventually became a director of a large American computer manufacturer. Eventually tiring of the stress and constant travel this entailed, he opted for a total change and joined Liz in the world of floristry. They bought one of the oldest floristry businesses in the UK and moved from the London area to Cambridge.

While Liz focussed on the artistic side of floristry, Alan looked after the business side. Although he readily admits that he couldn’t make a bouquet in a month of Sundays, he found his business background complemented her skills. He wrote Buying and Running a Florist Shop which became the best-selling business book ever on the subject of floristry. In 2017 he teamed up with Jenny Sheppard, a Saxmundham floristry tutor and Chelsea gold-medallist, to write The Business side of UK Floristry.

His first ever novel was The Shotley Incident, inspired by his time at HMS Ganges when he first joined the Navy. It was a thriller about an old Ganges boy stumbling across a dead body when he visits the now derelict remains of Ganges.

Alan said that the research he had to do for The Watcher’s Vengeance involved him in many days of studying how international money laundering works, how people use the dark web and how the Serious Fraud Office operates. He says, “I wouldn’t have been surprised to find the police knocking on my door after an alert from GCHQ. Not only did I find out some really incredible stuff about how the underworld works but amazingly a lot of it isn’t even illegal.”

Both The Watcher and The Watcher’s Vengeance are available from Amazon for £8.99 in hardback and £3.99 as e-books.