Two Little Dicky
Birds (ISBN 9781905809936)
On Saturday 5th
April 1975, in a fit of rage, Paul Townley took the life of his father, Harold.
The
significance of that single event was to affect the rest of his life, as he
resolved to make it his mission to rid society of the kind of person that the man
had become.
The first
killing took place six months later, and over the following fifteen years
seventeen more were to follow, as the trail of devastation left by a serial
killer covered the length and breadth of England.
Detective Chief
Inspector Colin Barnes looked down at the letter which lay on the desk before
him. An icy hand gripped his heart as he read once more the details of the
eighteen murders.
Murders which
had come back to haunt him from his past as he realised that he would, once more,
be faced with the serial killer who called himself ......Petey.
This is the back cover summary which is specifically
designed to draw the reader into the plot. Whilst its dramatic phraseology is
one of the keystones of the book, the story within the 90,000 words and 85
chapters tell so much more.
Colin Barnes’ lowly beginnings in London’s East End, the
brutal treatment of both him and his mother at the hands of his father, and
their subsequent escape from the terror which was inflicted upon them stands
out in stark relief to the remainder of the plot.
Tightly wound within the framework of the story are a range
of sub-plots. Barnes’ relationships with the two women passing through his
life, his mother’s resurgence in a relationship which fulfills all of her
dreams, and the birth of Barnes’ sister, all come together to paint a softer
background to the sheer brutality of the main story line.
‘Petey’ is a mass killer some back to haunt Barnes from his
past as a Detective Sergeant working for the Metropolitan Police. Barnes and
his former boss, DI Harrington, were at the heart of the search for the serial
killer from 1975 to his disappearance in 1992.
The story operates in two distinct timescales: 1975 – 1992
where I take the reader through the initial investigation and the eighteen
killings, and present day (2002) when Barnes receives a taunting letter from
Petey threatening a fresh wave of carnage.
From that point, the plot moves with ever-increasing pace as
the search in both timeframes becomes more intense. Freaks of lick – both good
(for the killer) and bad (for the police) serve to frustrate the reader and
force a turning of pages at an increasing rate. This the book is specifically
designed to do.
Close to the end, I shift the entire story across the
Atlantic, bringing into the fray a New York cop – Tom Casey – as the
perpetrator seeks to outrun New Scotland Yard, assume a new identity and vanish
to begin a new killing spree in the USA.
Even then, with the capture of our killer, there is one more
throw of the dice before the final unraveling of the plot.
Character Profiles
Colin Barnes
DCI at New Scotland Yard who has
worked his way up from uniformed Police Constable under the wing of the
legendary DI Robert Harrington. His lowly beginnings in one of the poorer areas
of London contrast sharply with his career and personal progression. He marries
Caroline Stenson, a woman rescuing him from the despair of losing his first love,
Stacey Richards, in a tragic accident. He is a man of fierce determination and
is single-minded in his approach to his job.
Robert Harrington:
Barnes’ mentor and leader in the
early chase to capture ‘Petey’. He is
one of the old school, and tolerates nothing short of complete devotion to
duty. He hands over the reins of the case to Barnes upon retirement.
‘Petey’:
A pathological killer, hiding in
plain sight, who has a merciless dedication to the slaughter of innocent
victims simply because he believes that he can get away with it. Seeming to
have an ear within the Police, he remains one step ahead of them at all time
from 1975 to 1992.
He moves in and out of every
plotline as the story unfolds.
Tom Casey:
Street-hardened New York
detective who has seen and done it all in his career within the NYPD. Close
personal friend of Barnes as a result of an incident in their past, he provides
a cultural opposite to the typically ‘English’ persona of the British
policeman.
