LoveReading Says
First in a series of refreshingly different crime fiction featuring a 50 something retired police officer, Nathan Hawk, whose attempts to adjust to a new pace of life are thrown off course when he comes across a brutal murder.
The author is a ex TV script writer (Midsomer Murders to Z-Cars) and it shows in the clever plot and cracking pace.
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Haggard Hawk Synopsis
Nathan Hawk is a recently retired police officer. A widower with four children scattered all over the world he has gone to live in a typical English village. He spends his time there struggling with an Anger Management Disorder and gardening for all he's worth. He's trying to kill time, time he never had as head of a Murder Squad ...time he never wanted, time he doesn't want now. Then, driving home one night from a dinner party in the company of a young, female G.P. he comes across a brutal murder and he's right back where he used to be. Catching a killer.
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Douglas Watkinson Press Reviews
'A great read that races plum down the middle of the private-eye highway, complete with an ex-copper with a heart-to-let. It's witty, well-observed and keeps you guessing. I was torn between devouring it at a sitting or snacking on it. Once I'd got it in my talons, however, I couldn't let it go.' Bruce Alexander - Mullet, in A Touch of Frost
'A terrific read and a great story with interesting, memorable characters. In Nathan Hawk, Marcus Barr has created a psychologically complex policeman fit to rival Rebus and Morse. There must be more!' John Nettles - Bergerac and Inspector Barnaby
'Lament no more the lack of an English equivalent to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. Marcus Barr's Nathan Hawk, former copper who can't switch off, creates a new bench mark for UK crime novels. A wealth of unsmoked kippers, a village full of likely suspects and a laconic, powerful style create what one hopes will be the first of many outings for this rumpled man with impeccable hunter-seeker credentials.' Colin Baker - Dr. Who
'We may dwell amongst those mean city streets but Nathan Hawk must go where a man must go: among those mean green wellies, crumbling loam and leafy lanes which turn out to be every bit as dark and treacherous as anything we townies have to address. The likeable Hawk, barred from a local murder investigation, nevertheless sets about stripping away a thatch of petty corruptions to solve this intriguing case. Marcus Barr has given us a detective packed with humour, humanity, and red, red wine. This is one to spin around the glass and savour.' Mike Grady - Barry, Last of the Summer Wine
About Douglas Watkinson
Douglas Watkinson has written literally hundreds of televisions scripts, everything from Z Cars to Midsomer Murders, which he helped to establish. The latter, under the title Inspector Barnaby, has been seen by a billion people. All he’s asking is that one percent of them read Haggard Hawk and Easy Prey...
Douglas was born into an army family and educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s. From there, though indirectly, he went to East 15 Acting School where his first plays were performed. On graduating he bombarded television companies with plays and eventually one was produced by Scottish Television. It was a thirty minute two-hander called Click.
You can find more about his television work on his website (www.douglaswatkinson.com) including when and where to see repeats of it, at least in the UK.
His novels are a recent addition to his CV, and he first wrote Haggard Hawk under the pen name of Marcus Barr, an old family name. He says, “The problem is, I never really came to terms with being Marcus ... so I went back to using my real name. Indepenpress were kind enough to republish Haggard Hawk to take account of it.”
His novels feature the hard-bitten, soft-centred ex copper Nathan Hawk who was ‘requested to retire’, as the British so delicately put it. It was the result of his over-active mouth and fiery temper leading him to strike a fellow officer. That aside, there remain four things which bother him and, in a case of art reflecting life, they are his grown up children, dispersed all over the world.
The next Hawk novel is called Scattered Remains and will be available in October. The fourth book, Evil Turn, will be finished by Christmas.
Douglas lives in a thatched house in the Buckinghamshire countryside with his wife and two German Shepherds. He works in a shed in the garden. It’s a little more comfortable than the one he started out with ... but it’s still a shed.
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