Page Updated: 02/07/99
John Milne
alivekicking.jpg
Alive and KickingAlive and Kicking Newpbk 05 Jul 99
The Moody ManThe Moody Man Newpbk 14 Jun 99
Dead BirdsDead Birds
About the Author
Bibliography


New Paperback - No Exit Press (1999)
First British Edition No Exit Press (1998)
Alive and Kicking
Bermondsey gangster, Tommy Slaughter and his driver were ambushed on Groom's Hill, Greenwich in 1968. They died in a hail of bullets, reputedly on the orders of Soho denizen and Maltese pimp, Mickey DeWitt. The gunshots echo even down to today.
Jimmy Jenner is an ex Metropolitan copper, now a London private detective. He was crippled in a terrorist bombing which left him part-deaf and one legged. His brain works just fine though. When Jenner is down on his luck, a lawyer offers him some enquiry work on a divorce case. Corrupt borough surveyor, Ralph Purnell is leaving his wife for a bimbo and before he goes she wants to know where he's salting his money. Jenner takes the case against his better judgement.
Things soon go wrong. Someone tries to murder a man who looks like Jenner outside his favourite pub. Mickey De Witt, now a bona fide businessman in his sixties, gets his eyes shot out in a pub car park in Sydenham. Jenner is a witness.
When Ralph Purnell, the subject of Jenner's "divorce enquiries", is found dead with a young woman in Epping Forest, Jenner realises he is himself a catalyst in these events. He has to question his own past, especially his family history and the accidental death of his elder brother, Joe, thirty years before. Joe was a minor criminal and peripheral member of the circle of gangster, Tommy Slaughter. Was Joe's death what it seemed at the time? The answer will explain what's happening to Jimmy Jenner now.
"John Milne is one of the truest crime writers we have. Raymond Chandler would have applauded his voice: bruised, tender, sharp, blunt and oh so sad. This novel is his best yet. Ex detective Jenner is his own man but in that bloody mindedness the sprit of Philip Marlowe is alive and kicking." Nicholas Shakespeare.
top
New Paperback - No Exit Press (1999)
The Moody Man
See Review by Peter Walker
Years ago Jimmy Jenner and Peter Moody were cops together. Now one is a crippled private detective and the other is ... a murderer? Jimmy Jenner hasn't heard from his old partner, Peter Moody, in eight years. One night there is a message from Moody on his answering machine, asking Jenner to meet him at his new house. When Jenner gets there he finds an open door, a blaring stereo and a trail of blood leading to a very dead young woman....
A sly, cunning bastard, sharp observation, well-observed characters, an authentic London voice and terrific style' Time Out
top
Paperback - No Exit Press (1998)
Dead Birds
Jimmy Jenner is a retired Metropolitan policeman. Retired because of injuries caused by a terrorist bomb in Regent Street. Jimmy was always ambitious to become a detective and now he was - the Private variety. Smart but disabled - missing a foot and deaf in one ear - he lives off his wits and contacts in the East End. The odd writ here, the odd piece of divorce work there - it keeps him out of trouble. Until he is asked to do some minding - of Alison Duncan, the wife of a boxing manager. She's beautiful, of course, but unfortunately soon after, she is dead. Jimmy takes his failures personally and trying to right the wrong, he is plunged into a world of international crime, too-clever detectives and too-rich criminals. So now Jimmy is the Sam Spade character he had always aspired to be, but he all too soon finds out that the stakes are getting higher all the time as he mingles among the London and Costa del Sol lowlifes.
"Jenner is an appealing creation, Francophobe, outspoken, a welcome spanner in the grubby VIP works." S. Telegraph
"Milne has created an English shamus who can hold his head up among American counterparts." Evening Standard
top
About The Author
John Milne was born in London in 1952. His many TV screenwriting credits include: Bergerac, East Enders, Lovejoy, The Bill, Boon, Taggart, Wycliffe and Silent Witness (for which he won an Edgar). He lives in Essex.

top

Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

  • Alive and Kicking (No Exit Press, 1998) New No Exit Press Pbk Jul 99 ( Jenner)
  • The Moody Man (Heinemann, 1987) New No Exit Press Pbk Jun 99 ( Jenner)
  • Dead Birds (Heinemann, 1986) No Exit Press Pbk Nov 98 ( Jenner)
  • Out of the Blue ( 1985) Winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys prize
  • London Fields ( 1984)
  • Tyro ( 1982)
  • Daddy's Girl (Heinemann) ( Jenner)

    • top
    [../twebref.htm]