Graham Bishop

After publishing several French text books during my career in education I have now turned to writing fiction. My novels still reflect my love of languages and travelling and so have an international flavour, both in terms of the characters and locations. Another enthusiasm is photography and this has influenced the very visual way in which I describe places and people.

Joker in the Pack

is a spy novel in which a former student radical in the 60s, David Raffo, now a Cabinet Minister decides to investigate the file MI5 kept on him in the past in an attempt to identify those who informed on him. Word quickly spreads and threatening emails appear on his pc. It becomes clear that someone high up in the secret services is desperate not to have his identity revealed. As David and his researcher, Anna, get closer to identifying all the informers it becomes clear that the final clues lie in Prague. David had gone there with a student delegation just days before the Russian invasion crushed the Prague Spring of 1968. Anna goes to Prague and is helped by an old girlfriend of David's, but their lives are put in danger by unexpected CIA involvement...

The Pierre Rousseau Mysteries series:

Achilles' Helmet

The Athenian Connection

The Crusader's Chronicle

Return to the Parthenon

and

The Walking Man

features French and Greek detectives who are fighting to prevent the illegal export of stolen works of art. (This sort of theft is sometimes referred to as 'elginism'.)

Secret collectors commission thefts to order and a colourful gang of Italian tombaroli, tomb robbers, do the spade work. The settings are in France, Italy, Greece, England and Scotland with an international cast of detectives and villains.

There is treachery, murder, kidnap and romance. If you like 'foreign' detectives such as Aurelio Zen and Guido Brunetti then you will love Commissaire Pierre Rousseau and Chief Inspector Antonia Antoniarchis. The theme of each novel also involves some historical background and time switching between the present and the past.

'A Local French Affair' is altogether different. It is the story, set in rural France in the interwar years, of a young maid servant falsely accused of stealing the family jewels of her employer. Will the villagers support her or will she have to leave the village in shame? The French version is entitled Le Grand Mystère de Gornac.

I have now returned to my roots too! As a result of my time as a lecturer at the Open University of the UK I researched into methods of learning languages and have now put the fruits of this experience in the form of short books entitled:

How to improve your French when working on your own

How to improve your German when working on your own

How to get the best out of your French/English Dictionary

How to get the best out your German/English Dictionary

How to be more Stylish in French

How to keep a Diary in French

I agree! The titles are not very sexy but they do exactly what they say and I hope you will find them useful. Hard copy versions or Kindle.