IT'S DARKE OUTSIDE
DARK SECRETS NEVER STAY BURIED
It’s Darke Outside is the first book in a series based on a blend of true crime, rumour, alleged conspiracy, and fiction. Each book, whilst self-contained, will follow a continuing story and characters (at these who survive along the way…) during Sir Robert Mark’s anti-corruption drive of the early 70;s, the IRA’s London bombing campaign and the rumoured coup against Harold Wilson’s government by General Sir Walter Walker.
The books are set in a shadowy climate of suspicion and shifting loyalties pervading the post-Kray underworld, mirrored by fragile Heath and Wilson governments struggling to assert control.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MARK HARRIS
Mark Harris was brought up on a diet of 1960s and 70’s TV action/adventure shows, police procedurals, and the novels of Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, Alistair Maclean, and Ian Fleming.
His all-time favourite TV show is still Southern Television’s Freewheelers (1968-72). IN fact, he loved so much he authored a book on it. Freewheelers- Calling White Knight (Kaleidoscope Press 2017)
A marketing consultant by profession, Mark has written over a million words in a 40-year career, winning awards, and other recognitions along the way.
Today, never having truly grown up, Mark has accumulated a library of archive TV, reference books and still photographs that inform his crime fiction.
We follow the Met’s elite Flying Squad unit as they fight to take down two new crime families on the North London block, the Dicks and Tate’s, with corruption in and outside the squad hampering their efforts. Home Office official Dyson lurks in the background but seems to be pulling the strings.
High-flying squad detective Eliot Darke and hardman copper Vic Mullen head up the investigation, but Eliot is compromised, and when an illegal shipment of arms bound for Belfast is hijacked, people start dying.
LEADING CHARACTERS
Eliot Darke. Smoothie, sharp dresser, cuts corners and can’t keep it in is trousers. Is secretly shagging one of the crime families’ daughters and becomes dragged into their world. He clashes with his superiors but not Vic Mullen or his bagman DS Bill Rourke. Darke has earned their respect because he has their backs. His superiors want rid of him but can’t whilst his record is so good. Is he heading for a fall?
Georgina (Georgie) Darke. Eliot’s wife, ambitious wife of for her husband to move up the ranks, and not averse to using her network of contacts to advance his career. Former Deb, independent and loyal despite amorous approaches from her social group, and his husband’s colleagues.
DI Vic Mullen. Hard as nails, Bermondsey-born. Ex-Military Policeman who joined the Met after serving in Malaya, where he is rumoured to be involved in a village massacre. Won his transfer to the Squad after helping put away a Turkish gang, for which they have sworn revenge. He lives with his Chinese girlfriend.
DC Paul Grist. Unexpectedly transferred to the Flying Squad after he starts investigating the death of a solicitor, the disappearance of some papers and the prostitute who enlisted his help. Grist becomes obsessed with the case despite realising he faces resistance from outside the force, and within.
Fenella. Darke’s girlfriend and Georgie’s supposed best friend. Well connected, especially in high places, Fenella has Eliot under her spell, but why and to what ends isn’t clear. She threatens to tell George of the affair unless Darke agrees to do her bidding. Whatever that might be.
Jack Tate. Used to work for Jack Spot in the 1950s after arriving from Ireland. He and his wife run a scrap metal yard from where they control crime in northeast London. Their manor borders the Dicks, and they have connections to Belfast too.
Freddie Dicks. Affable, generous and loves to play mine host in the family pub. In reality, Freddie is as ruthless as the rest of his family. There is an uneasy truce between the Dicks and Tate’s, until a string of armed robberies bring the unwanted attention of the Sweeney, and Eliot Darke.
