Things are not going well for Martin Cole. He is less than happy about his half-century approaching rapidly. More importantly, recently he lost his job, on top of that his wife Carol divorced him and threw him out of his London home. So when his friend Nigel asks him to house-sit his Devon country cottage whilst Nigel takes an extended vacation, Martin jumps at the chance. But if Martin was expecting a quiet life he is in for a shock. Roselake seems peaceful at first glance, but soon Martin finds himself with serious problems. Wild women and raw home-distilled spirits he can cope with, but...

Martin Cole is stuck in a rut. But his family and friends have ideas for him. And when Martin's landlord offers him a job sorting out a problem for his niece Anna Martino, he finds it hard to refuse. Soon Martin is back in harness, tempted by the prospect of an intriguing case, not to mention a useful income. Roselake Investigation Services, here we come. He finds himself with an office, an attractive young assistant, Tanya, and a caseload to take on. But Anna's problem is not that easy to resolve. How come her aunt left her money to a cat charity, when she hated cats? And when a hit-and-run...

Martin Cole has a new case. Three dogs have been poisoned on a Roselake housing estate. But his mind is soon taken off that problem by a call from a mother whose son has just been charged with murder and who claims he is innocent. Soon Martin and his assistant Tanya are involved in another round of battles to find the truth and in the meantime to sort out their own personal lives. Is romance in the air for Tanya? How can Martin keep his ex-wife under control and out of his hair?

Unable to rest on his laurels, Martin finds himself involved in the suspicious deaths of two local councillors. Martin knows the two were linked by the case he was investigating, but was it coincidence they both seemed to have died of heart attacks within a day of each other? And why was Councillor Patton's car where it was when he was found dead at the wheel? Martin has a major puzzle on his hands. Not to mention the thorny problem of who is stealing prize-winning cacti from Roselake's greenhouses. Book 4 of the Martin Cole series.

Martin is called in by a local businessman to look into a series of thefts from his warehouse. But the investigation is interrupted by the killing of one of the suspects. Are the thefts and the murder related? Are the police right in thinking there is a drug connection? Or should Martin follow clairvoyant Delia's advice to look for a mysterious triangle?

In the USA shale gas extraction is taking a toll on the nation's environment and health. Now, in the UK, the oil and gas companies are faced with ever-diminishing returns from conventional sources. They want to bring new hydraulic fracturing, coal bed methane and underground coal gasification techniques to our coastal and rural areas. In Fracking The UK, Alan Tootill takes a look at the history of shale gas development in the US, the damage it is causing, and how a powerful industry wants not only to industrialise Britain's landscape but throw concerns about climate change to the wind. His...

Blackpool PI Mike Grady sits back after concluding what seemed an easy matrimonial. Job done. Case closed. But three masked men drag him from his bedsit, beat him and dump him by Marton Mere, with a warning to mind his own business. But into what and whose business has he stuck his nose? Mike is puzzled. And not a little pissed off. Not one to let things be, once out of hospital Mike is on the trail of the baseball bat crew and whoever hired them. And it's not long before they are back after him. Armed and decidedly dangerous. Marton Mere, the first of Alan Tootill's Blackpool Novels,...

Steve Latham left Blackpool with a bullet hole in his arm and a determination never to return. He ran to the capital, changed his name, became a PI and never looked back. Now, twenty years later, a chance encounter in a London street leads to a plea for him to come back to the seaside town, to look for a missing girl. A daughter he never knew he had. Steve's return rakes up the past, revealing a tale of drugs, deception, long-held grudges and murder. Alan Tootill's second Blackpool Novel continues his fictional vision of a town fuelled by crime, greed and lust.

They said fracking would make Blackpool a boom town. They said it would bring jobs and money. It did. For the whores, the drug dealers, the foreign cheap labourers, the local politicians, the ambulance-chasing lawyers. And for me, PI Mike Grady. I'm not saying I'm proud of it. It just happened that way. It started when Mrs Hall walked into my office. Her husband had drowned in the frackers' water reservoir. The coroner recorded an open verdict. Mrs Hall wasn't happy. I started digging. I came up with more than I bargained for. Pulp meets fracking, greed and corruption in the third in Alan...

An omnibus edition of three books of the Martin Cole series - Cole and the Cat Woman, Cole and the Corgi Killer and Cole and the Cactus Thief. Martin Cole is stuck in a rut. But his family and friends have ideas for him. And when Martin's landlord offers hime a job sorting out a problem for his niece Anna Martino he finds it hard to refuse. Soon Martin is back in harness, tempted by the prospect of an intriguing case, not to mention a useful income. He finds himself with an office, an attractive young assistant, Tanya, and a growing caseload. Roselake Investigation services, here we come.