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The author, Philip Jones, was born and lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.
After having worked in various administrative and financial roles, Philip returns to full-time education, obtaining a first-class BA Honours degree in English from University Centre Shrewsbury in 2019, followed by a Master of Research (MRes) in Storytelling from the University of Chester in 2020.
This is Philip’s third book with Austin Macauley Publishers. His debut book was The Lion Hotel, a detective-themed play; and his second, Jack the Ripper?, an adventure about a time-travelling detective.
Readers are transported to Victorian London and introduced to Inspector Doyle, a modern-day detective with eternal life, who discovers that he has been wrongly named as ‘Jack the Ripper’, the Victorian serial killer. Nobody wants that label at any time in history, so with the aid of time travel he returns to the year 1888 in an attempt to clear his name.Another complication for Inspector Doyle is that his modern-day daughter, Flora, who he has left behind to travel back several centuries, is becoming increasingly suspicious of her father’s identity. This is after making her way into his Shrewsbury study, that she is forbidden to enter.The only good thing about returning to 1888 is that Inspector Doyle is able to rekindle his relationship with daughter Alice and wife Eleanor, who he had to leave behind all those centuries ago. Alice can then only but marvel at her father’s abilities to answer a question that only he knows the answer to, because he has travelled into the future and back.The story references many Victorian objects that have been meticulously researched and then used to tell a story that is only possible through time travel and a rather clever inventor who may or may not be still alive. Many elements of the original Jack the Ripper case are also detailed as are the horrors of Whitechapel.Find out whether Inspector Doyle manages to clear his name by discovering who the real Jack the Ripper is, and expect a twist at the end that involves both daughters and a Victorian book that, unlike the rest of Inspector Doyle’s objects, is unable to exist in parallel between the two time zones.
Readers are transported to the historical town of Shrewsbury. The Lion Hotel provides the setting for a story in which a detective’s daughter is wrongly accused of a crime. One might have expected her father, Inspector Horace no less, to have easily been able to prove her innocence, but things never quite work out that way when you are a teenager. Fortunately, Florence is quite capable of remaining one step ahead of her father and the hotel staff.
Florence’s predicament begins, in her mind, when she exclaims, ‘Father, I think we’re stuck. We’re not supposed to be in the same section of the revolving door,’ and ends with her reflecting upon a set of circumstances.
During their time at the hotel, the family encounter all sorts of strange behaviour, including that shown by a waiter obsessed with Charles Dickens, who makes himself a suspect too.
Philip Jones’s refreshingly different writing style combines history with witty and engaging dialogue to bring the characters to life and allow the reader to imagine the whole situation unravelling in front of them.
In this heartwarming narrative, a remarkable police dog named Sarge enters the lives of Inspector Horace and his family, quickly earning his stripes as the bravest canine the Force has ever witnessed. Journey through the pages to discover how Sarge melds into his new family and impeccably balances his police duties.
Initially, Inspector Horace’s wife, Violet, views Sarge with a touch of scepticism, seeing him as a bit of an intruder. Yet, like their teenage daughter Florence, she soon finds herself warming up to the gallant dog. Florence swiftly bonds with Sarge, finding comfort in the thought that he will seamlessly transition between his domestic life and the noble duty of safeguarding her father.
As the tale unfolds, readers will find themselves engrossed in the captivating bond between Sarge and Inspector Horace, especially during their vigilant street patrols that prove to be a labyrinth in the shroud of night. The perils of their vocation soon come to light when Sarge leads the charge against a criminal gang, implicated in a spree of designer item thefts. The narrative takes a chilling turn when murder enters the fray, revealing a sinister depth to the gang’s operations far beyond what was initially perceived.
My book, The Lion Hotel, was featured in the May 2021 edition of The Villager, a local magazine covering the village of Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury, Shropshire and slightly beyond.
I spoke to Ryan Kennedy of BBC Radio Shropshire, on his afternoon show, to talk about my book, The Lion Hotel. It will be available for a month to listen to on BBC iPlayer, between 21:07 and 26:05. L ........
On this day, there was a successful launch of my book with a 4-minute YouTube clip opening up at 8.30pm, with me talking about my book, and people are invited to post any comments or ask any quest ........
On 6 March 2025, a Facebook page was launched to entertain, inform, and keep updated, readers of the novel, Sarge Is in Charge: An Inspector Horace Mystery.The page is called, ‘Sarge – The Fictio ........
8th January: Complimentary copies of my book Sarge Is in Charge: An Inspector Horace Mystery are received from Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd. Sarge, a soft toy version that I made a personalised ........
In June 2023, Jack the Ripper? received a 5-Star review, describing it as 'intriguing and a new twist on the story of the Ripper.' The review goes on to say that 'as the book unfolds it becomes very a ........
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