Jack's Back!

In the sixth Mowgley Mystery, our hero finds himself drawn into a murky and sometimes murderous world of theft, fakery and fraud. It's guestimated that criminality in the Art World amounts to six billion dollars a year. Former Special Branch officer and now Normandy–based private investigator Jack Mowgley is called in when the naked body of a celebrity art critic is found in bizarre circumstances in the wine cellar of his chateau.

Dead and Buried

Jack Mowgley finds himself embroiled in criminal activity when an old flame gets in touch out of the blue to help her find her husband and his old friend from the Met. Unable to say no, he embarks on an unwitting journey into more trouble than he knows how to handle. More buried treasure has been unearthed in Bulgaria than anywhere else on earth.

Death Duty

The first book in the series is set in 1999, with the world on the brink of a new millennium. Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Jack Mowgley is on the brink of enforced early retirement. Or worse. Attitudes are changing, and senior officers think people like Mowgley have no part to play in the Modern Police Force. For sure, Jack Mowgley is caught in a time-warp with regard to policing policies and procedures, and PC he most definitely ain't.

Deadly Tide

A beachcomber finds a designer bag containing a large amount of heroin, an even larger amount of banknotes ... and two arms. Meanwhile, a cleaner on board a cross-Channel ferry finds a limbless and headless body in a luxury cabin. After opening the Trunk Murder case, Mowgley and his trusty colleague, confidante and drinking partner Melons find themselves following a trail across the Channel which becomes increasingly littered with dead bodies ... and body parts.

Dead Money

A holidaying pensioner has suffered a heart attack after being stopped by Customs and having no explanation of why he is carrying a money belt stuffed with high denomination currency. As Mowgley and McCarthy investigate, they become involved in a series of increasingly brutal and bizarre murders on a trail which leads them from the seedier streets of Portsmouth to the hotspots of southern Spain ...

Just a Pompey Boy

It's the dying days of World War Two, and a child is born during a dramatic air raid that badly damages the family home and destroys the midwife's bicycle. At least, that's what George East's mother told him in later years. But then she also claimed that the painting–by–numbers picture of a bunch of sunflowers in the passageway could be a preparatory sketch for the real thing by Vincent Van Gogh. George's beloved but eccentric mother also claimed royal blood and that her ancestor and not Captain Hardy was the sailor Lord Nelson asked for a kiss as he lay dying on board HMS Victory.

Pompey Lad – Part One 1954 – 1960

Pompey Lad – Part One follows 'Just a Pompey Boy' and is the second in the series of George's memoirs of growing-up in Portsmouth with all the angst and hopes and dreams of adolescence.

Pompey Lad – Part Two - The Rock 'n' Roll Years 1960-1965

In Pompey Lad Part Two we join George as he goes from adolescence to young manhood, following his escapades and experiences with sex, drugs and the ubiquitous Rock 'n' Roll, alongside the petty violence of the times. (Remember Brighton?) Portsmouth being tough, rough and ready but always in the forefront of the Rock and coming mod scene. Times were a-changing and so was Pompey and its inhabitants.

Rough Diamond - Notes from a Big Island

After eating, drinking and writing their way around France for many years, George and his wife Donella bought a home on the Isle of Wight to be closer to their family on the mainland. Rough Diamond follows George as he spends a year visiting every town and village (and most of the pubs) on the Island while trying to discover what makes it such a closed book to so many Britons.

Home and Dry In France (MOF)

The first book in the best-selling series begins with failed publican, dressmaker and professional bed-tester George East and his wife Donella acquiring a windfall from a shady deal and setting out in search of a picture-postcard cottage in Normandy. Tellingly sub-titled A Year in Purgatory, this enchanting book is a sometimes hilarious and always entertaining account of how one couple set out with a dream, and eventually ended up home and (fairly) dry at The Mill of the Flea. It has become a classic of its genre, and been enjoyed by an army of general book readers.

René and Me (MOF)

The sequel to Home & Dry in France tells the story of our heroes' attempt to survive a year living off the land and their wits at their dilapidated watermill in Normandy. Determined to make a go of living the good life, the Easts find themselves with an unofficial estate manager and mentor as René Ribet moves on to their land in his ancient caravan. Their new friend will, he says, school them in the ways of the countryside and help them restore their ruined property and fortunes at the same time. To the innocents abroad he appears a godsend. To the locals in the nearby village of Néhou, however, René Ribet is known as The Fox of Cotentin. Doomed schemes launched by the unlikely partnership include bottling the waters of their polluted stream, manufacturing the first ever garlic-flavoured car deodoriser and holding rallies for metal-detecting enthusiasts to discover the whereabouts of the long-dead miller's legendary hoard of gold. As the seasons pass, the couple finally realise that the real treasure has been all around them, all the time.

French Letters (MOF)

Once again, we visit the innocents abroad at home in the tiny Normandy community where time is cheap, good friends are priceless, and reluctant tractors are brought to life with a shot of home-brewed and highly illicit applejack brandy. Once again we meet local characters and members of the Jolly Boys Club like JayPay, the giant superchef and moustache-growing champion of all Normandy. Then there's Old Pierrot, who claims to have magical powers and to have been on first name terms with William The Conqueror. Didier the dodgy dealer is still doing a roaring trade in blank Rubik's cubes, and the doughty Madame Ghislaine is still battling to keep the village store, bar and school open and her husband sober.

French Flea Bites (MOF)

The fourth collection of tall tales from master raconteur George East, French Flea Bites takes us through another eventful year in and around the tiny Normandy village of Néhou. Along with the regular cast of members of the Jolly Boys Club and other eccentric villagers and settlers, we meet a man who believes he died in 1979, an English lord who is trying to patent his chain mail underpants, and a lethal cat who becomes a werewolf at full moon. Elsewhere, a genetically mutated muskrat is decimating Reggie and Ronnie's crayfish gang, and René Ribet (the notorious Fox of Cotentin) is drawing up plans to convert a giant compost heap into Néhou's answer to The Millennium Dome.

French Cricket (MOF)

The long-awaited fifth book in the Mill of the Flea series, French Cricket finds our heroes returning to La Puce after a two-year absence caused by family bereavements. Arriving to find their home in a sad state of disrepair, Donella sets about mending the broken cement mixer and restoring The Mill of the Flea to its former glory. Meanwhile, George sets about renewing his membership of the Jolly Boys Club, and finding excuses for not writing his new book on the couple's latest adventures in Lower Normandy. Without telling his wife the grim news, the ever-optimistic would-be entrepreneur must also cook up some new money-making schemes to avoid having to sell La Puce. As a long summer comes to bloom, George meets a weird array of new British settlers, and the latest members of the La Puce menagerie include a ballet-dancing goose refugee from the foie gras farm down the road, a duck which is afraid of water ... and a giant eel called Elvis. Obviously, nothing changes at the Mill of the Flea!

French Kisses (MOF)

In the opening pages of the penultimate book in the series, we join the author and his wife at their favourite bar as they and a predictably bizarre collection of customers prepare to welcome in what will turn out to be a momentous year for the Easts. As usual, the owners of the Mill of the Flea are struggling to survive financially, and this time it is really serious. The dastardly bank manager is demanding the settlement of their overdraft, and if our hero cannot come up with a scheme to raise the money, the couple will lose their beloved home. George sets out on a quest to save their home of thirteen years, and predictably becomes involved in some very bizarre deals with Didier, the local and very dodgy general dealer. Sub-plots along the way involve the nobbling of the East's entry into the All-Cotentin Chicken Show, with the wily Réne Ribet stepping in to save the day and put one over on the rival village with his fox-like cunning. Then there's a memorable encounter with a synchronised drinking and smoking team and the baton-dropping champions of Lower Normandy, together with appearances from a Parisian clockmaker posing as the Prince of Darkness, and an alleged descendant of Nostradamus who makes his predictions after rather than before the events. As the pace quickens, it looks as if nothing will save the Easts from leaving the Mill of the Flea. But as usual, there's a twist to the tale. Or is there ...?

French Lessons (MOF)

He's back- and this time it's really serious. Failed rock legend, pickled onion manufacturer, air hostess and euro-entrepreneur George East takes us through another eventful year of his doomed attempts to make a living out of living in rural France. Fleeing from the Mill of the Flea with creditors in hot pursuit, our hero and his long-suffering wife arrive at a rambling manor-house on the vast and brooding stretches of the Normandy marshlands. The cunning plan is to set up a fox sanctuary, chicken farm and arts & crafts commune for the creatively challenged, but the East's new home soon reveals its grim secrets. A lifeline is offered by a stranger with a scheme to bring the delights of the Great British Pub to homesick expatriates. The George Inn (sometimes) will be the first of a chain of hugely successful anglo-pubs stretching from Normandy to Nice and beyond. At least, that's the idea. As the clock ticks towards opening time and final financial meltdown for the ultimate innocent abroad, we encounter another host of improbable - and frankly sometimes unbelievable - characters and situations. The amazing thing is that any of it is true. Will George find fame, fortune and contentment, or has this modern Micawber taken his final drink in the Last Chance Saloon?

French Impressions: Brittany

In French Letters, George wrote about the couple's game plan for the autumn of their years. The scheme was that they would amble around France, calling in on all those readers who had been rash enough to invite them to stay if ever they were in the area. Having arrived with a bottle of (fairly) good wine and their dirty washing, the Easts would then impose upon the hospitality of their hosts until all goodwill was exhausted. Then it would be on the road to the next region of France, and the next victim. Probably because of the warning (and that potential hosts would have read about George's level of house-training), the plan never materialised. As a substitute, the couple had to find another excuse to go on the run and savour the diverse delights to be found only in France. This is the raison d'etre behind French Impressions and the Brittany book.

French Impressions: The Loire Valley

Once again our hero takes to the road to bring us his unique perspective on a region of France. This time the East caravan pitches up in the Valley of Kings, as the Pays de la Loire area is known to some visitors because of the three hundred-plus castles along the River Loire. To others, the Loire Valley is known as the Garden of France. Those of the six million yearly visitors who have fallen foul of rapacious restaurant and hotel owners may be forgiven for dubbing the area as The We Saw You Coming. In this latest example of George's unusual and searingly honest take on places, people and Life, we travel with the Easts from where the Loire exits into the Atlantic Ocean and on across the length of the Pays de la Loire, calling in on historic towns like Nantes, Angers, Tours and Orleans on route. As well as a wealth of information on the culture, history and food and drink of the region, the new French Impressions book contains recipes for such traditional Loirean dishes as frogs' legs, coq au vin and roasted swan.

French Impressions: The Dordogne River

This unique mix of information, anecdote, opinion and recipes in the French Impressions series follows the course and history of the River Dordogne. It takes us on an affectionate voyage along the banks of one of the country's most iconic rivers, starting half-way up a dead volcano in the Auvergne region and ending three hundred miles later in the Gironde estuary. On the journey through five regions and six departments, George examines the diverse cultures and communities, their sometimes turbulent history, and how the past informs the present in this deeply fascinating part of a great country. He also tries to solve that age-old mystery of what makes the French so ... French. If you want to know where there be underground dragons, saints with a golden touch and how the good burghers of Sarlat make cat litter from walnut shells, French Impressions: The Dordogne River is the book for you. If you like armchair travelling or just love France, it's your sort of book.

French Impressions: Lower Normandy

The latest mix of information, opinion, anecdote and recipes in the enormously popular French Impressions series features a particularly fascinating area of France. The personal pilgrimage explores the three departments of Lower Normandy, and, as well as reviewing more than a hundred towns and villages and tourist attractions, the book looks at the historical events and peoples which helped form the unique character of this part of France. Along the way it features the recipes and background to many traditional and unusual Norman dishes. In all, this is a complete celebration of one of Frances most beautiful and fascinating areas. 'From the D-Day Beaches to the birthplace of William the Conqueror, George East's unique style paints a gloriously coloured picture of some of the most visited and intriguing parts of Normandy.'

French Impressions: 150 Fabulous French Recipes

Fancy trying cockle curry, frogs' legs or Richard the Lionheart's favourite dish of roasted swan? Well, now you can with La Puce's first cookbook, devised, planned and written by Donella East. For many years, Donella has been accompanying George around France, organising and mostly keeping him out of trouble as he gathers material for his books. Early on in their wanderings, she began collecting local and regional recipes from home cooks and cafe and restaurant owners. After twenty years she found herself with a clutch of carrier bags stuffed with menu cards and recipes jotted down on paper napkins and cigarette packets. 'Last year,' says Donella, 'I was having a clear-out and, going through the bags, realised they were stuffed with more than a thousand recipes from every part of France. I asked George if he thought they would make an interesting series of regional cookbooks. He said yes, but only if I tested all the recipes on him before publication.'

French Impressions: The Brittany Blogs

If anyone should know his onions about France and the French, it's George. After moving with his wife Donella to a ruined water mill on ten acres of rivers, woods, meadows and mud in Normandy, George wrote a best-selling series of books about trying to live off the land and their wits. The couple then left the Mill of the Flea and moved on to an allegedly haunted manor-house on the vast Lower Normandy marshlands. Their next home was a rambling farmhouse half way up what counts as a mountain in Brittany. Since then, the Easts have visited or stayed in every one of France's 90-odd departments and 22 regions. Writing books and contributing to magazines, websites and TV and radio programmes, George has become a well-known commentator on what goes on across the Channel. This is a compendium of his blogs and photographs and traditional recipes collected by Donella. Although principally about their time in the land of Donella's ancestors, The Brittany Blogs is also about France and the French, and why for centuries we have been fascinated and frustrated by what we often see as the funny little ways of our nearest Continental neighbours.

Home and Dry In Normandy

We have a limited number of first-edition copies of Home & Dry in Normandy in stock. This deluxe hardback compilation of the first two books in the Mill of the Flea series (Home & Dry in France and René & Me) makes an ideal gift for someone who has not read the first two books in the Mill series, or a memorable keepsake for those who have. Signed by George, these special books could become collectors' items, so hurry while stocks last.

French Kisses

We now have a limited number of first-edition copies of French Kisses in stock. This deluxe hardback compilation of French Letters and French Kisses in the Mill of the Flea series makes an ideal gift for someone who has not read these two books in the Mill series, or a memorable keepsake for those who have. Signed by George, these special books could become collectors' items, so hurry while stocks last.

Love Letters To France

George has been in love with France since he went on a school exchange trip to Paris and found a poster of Brigitte Bardot pinned to the dormitory wall. He also fell for the way boys his age wore Perry Como haircuts and Stay-Prest trousers, smoked acrid Gauloises cigarettes and rode around on mopeds with chic girlfriends on the pillion. Since then, he has travelled to the moon and back in miles in France and written a million words about the country in book, essay and blog form. This is the latest collection of his love letters to France.

How To Write A Best Seller

In How to write a Best Seller, George looks at every aspect of the arts, crafts and tricks involved in putting a book together. After identifying and exploring all genres from non-fiction to novels, thrillers, whodunits and even kiss 'n' tell books, he looks at those which sell best, and the common key factors which make them a hit. Having helped you decide the type of book best suited to your latent talent, George gets down to how to plot, structure and write your potential best-seller.

The Naked Truth About Women

Now he's been and gone and done it! After half a century or so, George East has finally got to grips with an issue which has bemused, infuriated and fascinated men since Adam and Eve had their first falling-out. Why do women think and act as they do?

The Naked Truth About Dieting

All you need to know about losing weight - and NOT finding it again! Did you know that desperate dieters once swallowed tape worms to ensure they lost weight? Did you know that the first diet book came out in 1558, or that Victorian diet pills and potions often contained deadly arsenic and strychnine as they were supposed to speed up the metabolism and burn fat faster? Nowadays we are just as whacky when it comes to dieting, as some people believe that eating baby food or even stapling your ears will help you lose weight. As well as all sorts of statistics and fascinating facts about how we try to lose weight and keep it off, The Naked Truth about Dieting also lists, explains, compares and 'road tests' dozens of famous and little-known diets from around the world. At the end of an absorbing voyage, the book comes to a conclusion about dieting which may shock many readers who have tried everything to get slimmer ...

France and the French - How to Buy a Home in France

If anyone should know his onions about France, the French and their funny little ways, it's George East. When he and his wife Donella bought their first home across the Channel, they made so many cock-ups that George wrote a book to warn others about the perils and pitfalls. Home & Dry in France became a best-seller, and was the first of a series of acclaimed books recording their adventures while living with the enemy. After countless articles, blogs and lectures, George has finally compressed half a lifetime's experiences of French adventuring into this single publication. If you are even thinking about thinking about buying a home in France or moving there to live, we think you'll find it essential reading. And by the way, it's also a jolly good read ...

A Balkan Summer

High summer in the Balkans and George East arrives in Bulgaria to investigate an apparently potty scheme to rescue a dying mountain village. While there, the eccentric travel writer gets to know an array of fascinating locals from the President Putin lookalike and Meerkat soundalike to Mr Rotavator and the man who takes his milk direct from the cows. Beyond the village, George discovers much about the little-known country that Bill Bryson described as a 'near-death experience'. The book also contains historical and cultural notes and traditional recipes. In his time in Bulgaria, George finds himself falling under the spell of an ancient kingdom and its people.

Death á la Carte

Jack the Lad has jumped before being pushed, taken early retirement and moved to live in France. His intention is to restore his ruined manor-house with money earned by working as a private investigator on cases involving British expatriates. In fact, he finds himself involved with people-smuggling, drug trafficking and a series of murders most foul ...

Life's A Beach by Francesca Brooks

Nancy has lost her job, her home and her husband. Her constant companion at her increasingly frequent whine o'clock sessions is called Blossom, and comes in a bottle from a Californian vineyard. We meet our wonky heroine dossing in a friend's apartment as she tries to come up with a way to regain her self-confidence, earn a living - and get revenge on her former husband.

Then, she gets a chance to start a new life by setting up shop in a beach kiosk in a crumbling seaside resort. There, she finds that life can be a beach, but love can come in with the tide ...
“Outrageously frank and very funny”
“A real working class heroine”

A Village in Bulgaria by Donella East

This is a personal tribute to a remote Bulgarian village. I collected the recipes while staying there, and all are examples of traditional dishes and favourites at home or when eating out. Inevitably, what was meant to be a recipe-collecting visit developed into a love affair with the village and the people who live there. The recipes were given to me by the locals, and the photographs are of our friends and 'Krasiva', where we now have a home. The name of our village has been changed as we like to keep a really good thing to ourselves.

A Year Behind Bars

A Year Behind Bars is the 'prequel' to the Mill of the Flea series, and tells the story of one man's attempt to create the perfect pub. Having spent most of his free time in inns, taverns and good old-fashioned boozers, our fictional hero (who is quite like the author!), persuades his long-suffering wife to buy him a pub of his own for Christmas. Now, he thinks, he will be able to drink at cost price, and relax while entertaining customers and friends in his front room. Predictably, the scheme does not quite work out as planned.

French Impressions: 150 Fabulous French Recipes

Fancy trying cockle curry, frogs' legs or Richard the Lionheart's favourite dish of roasted swan? Well, now you can with La Puce's first cookbook, devised, planned and written by Donella East. For many years, Donella has been accompanying George around France, organising and mostly keeping him out of trouble as he gathers material for his books. Early on in their wanderings, she began collecting local and regional recipes from home cooks and cafe and restaurant owners. After twenty years she found herself with a clutch of carrier bags stuffed with menu cards and recipes jotted down on paper napkins and cigarette packets. 'Last year,' says Donella, 'I was having a clear-out and, going through the bags, realised they were stuffed with more than a thousand recipes from every part of France. I asked George if he thought they would make an interesting series of regional cookbooks. He said yes, but only if I tested all the recipes on him before publication.'

The Sandwich Book by Donella East

The Sandwich Book Absolutely stuffed with world class recipes, ideas, fascinating facts and sarnie phantasmagoria. Welcome to a world of sandwich flavours. Filled with recipes (if that's the word) and sandwich fillings from around the world, including 'street food' and family favourites. Along with the history and origin of the many sandwiches featured, you will find fascinating facts related to the humble and not so humble snack. Take a trip through the streets of Kolkata or a back street of Hong Kong for a real taste of worldwide favourites.