Whipster

With the University preparing for Michaelmas term in 1827, Cambridge is alive with promises of fortunes to be made. University constable Gregory Hardiman has neither the appetite nor the funds to invest, but many others are tempted by the gleam of Bolivian silver. On patrol one evening Gregory is called to a violent incident at an inn, and before long his enquiries lead him to several of the town's best-known figures – including the Master of St Clement's College.Struggling to make sense of what he has learned, Gregory himself is targeted as someone threatens to blackmail him. And with a chance of happiness once again within his grasp, can he risk losing it all if his past is revealed? My name is Susan Grossey. I graduated from Cambridge University in 1987 with a degree in English, and then taught secondary English for two years before realising that the National Curriculum was designed primarily to extinguish every spark of creativity in its teachers. I then became a technical author, and reached the pinnacle of this profession when I was asked to document the workings of a choc-ice wrapping machine in Cardiff, while wearing a fetching blue hairnet (which I forgot to remove until it was pointed out by a cashier in a petrol station on the M4). From this unbeatable high point I moved into technical training, and one day was asked to help with a staff manual on fraud prevention. As I wrote the chapter on money laundering, I realised that here was a topic that could keep my interest for years – and so it has proved. Since 1998, I have been self-employed as an anti-money laundering consultant, providing training and strategic advice and writing policies and procedures for clients in many countries. As part of my job, I have written several non-fiction books with exciting titles like "The Money Laundering Officer's Practical Handbook". However, this is not enough financial crime for me, and in my spare evenings and weekends I write fiction – but always with financial crime at the heart of it.