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The Avalon Series
There are currently seven books from the series in print, with To Catch a Selkie out later in 2024.
The Drums of Drumnadrochit
Detective James Avalon is a man in turmoil, he knows he needs to make changes in his life, but what and how? A sudden secondment to the Highlands of Scotland forces his hand. A crime wave has put the Inverness police under a great deal of pressure and the legend of a phantom drummer is clouding the logic of an already baffling case.
The Drums of Drumnadrochit is the first book in the series, following the life and career of James Avalon. This contemporary tale, set in the land of the Loch Ness Monster, stretches the deductive powers of Avalon with a mystery that stems from the ancient battlefield of Culloden.
Auld Clootie
Changes in police policy are giving Detective James Avalon more than a few problems and when he discovers a member of his team has a dark secret, he is left with an impossible dilemma. When a body is found in what is believed to be a ritualistic killing, the pressure mounts for Avalon to sift the truth from Witchcraft, Satanic Cults and local gossip. James Avalon is back in the second book of the 'Avalon Series'.
Set in the Highlands of Scotland, this contemporary tale sees Avalon working a baffling case that seems to have no motive and no solid clues
The Brollachan
After just twelve months based in Inverness, Detective Inspector James Avalon now feels more at home than any other time in his life. With his personal life still a shambles, Avalon takes solace in the landscape and his work, but when a woman disappears from her car in plain sight, he wonders about the accuracy of the report.
Travelling north to a small coastal village he soon becomes embroiled in a misty tale from the past and a spectre that simply will not go away. When a body is found, the case becomes more serious. Is the woman's disappearance linked to the body or does Avalon need to reassess his methods?
In the third book of the compelling 'Avalon Series', the Inverness detective is once again on a case with a mysterious undertone that sees him forging stronger ties with the Highlands, its people and the history of Scotland.
The Black Clan
It's quiet, too quiet, and Inverness is almost a crime-free city. Of course it cannot last and DI Avalon tries his best to keep his team on full alert for when the sky eventually falls. When his colleague DS Ross follows his instinct during a routine check on a reported suicide, he finds too many inconsistencies. Avalon agrees and mobilises most of the team onto the investigation. With a suicide note and no body, it becomes clear that there is a deeply nefarious undercurrent about to burst forth.
Avalon is back in the fourth book in the series. Set in the Highlands of Scotland, this contemporary tale sets Avalon on the trail of a mysterious cult, prominent figures in society and high-ranking members of Police Scotland.
Caledonian Flame
Avalon is taking a much-needed rest, his first extended leave since being at Inverness. It gives him time to think, and for Avalon, that isn't necessarily a good thing. Bored and 'kicking his heels' in Edinburgh, DI Avalon looks through an old case and sees something he didn't expect. A connection to several pointless crimes that had taken place over several years. It could be coincidence but Avalon's instinct kicks in and a new investigation is begun.
Digging through old files and records, he uncovers much more than a crime, he stumbles on a whole culture of misdemeanours spanning oceans, continents and time.
Avalon scours the streets of Inverness in the last major case of the first contemporary series. This time his life is on the line.
Plague Witch
C Section, Inverness CID has continued along without DI James Avalon at the helm. The detective has been away for almost a year working in other aspects of crime prevention.
Now, there is a new killer to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world, and this one can't be stopped by simple detective work. Covid 19, a virus from China, is about to destroy the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, but police business must go on.
As usual, C Section are understaffed, with their new DI off sick, and other officers succumbing to the virus, DS Gordon Wilson does his best to run the section until the new DI arrives. The problem is, more trouble waits in the wings.
Four and Twenty Virgins
Inverness has survived the covid crisis. Crime has been at an all-time low, but it can't last. People are bored with the restrictions and bored minds breed dark thoughts.
Detective Inspector James Avalon was well aware that once people go back to their normal life, the levels of crime would increase. He was ready, his team was ready, but no matter how much they prepared, they were not expecting such a rush of criminality.
With his usual shortage of staff, Avalon and C Section of Inverness CID, do their best to cover all that is thrown at them but there is only so much they can do. Then, just as they think they are turning the tide, a new terror comes to tea.
Bethran - Seer of the Picts
Introducing Bethran, Seer of the Picts, in a brand new series from the author of the Scottish detective novels - The Avalon Series. Set around the year 690 ad, during the golden age of the Pictish Kingdoms, lovingly researched and lavishly written. The story follows the adventures of Bethran, a Pict wise-man and seer, respected in the communities he visits and known by noblemen and kings. Set in the northernmost lands of the Pict Tribes, in those lands that are now called Inverness-shire, Sutherland and Caithness. Bethran undertakes the journey he has taken every year since he can remember. A long journey north, to a settlement under the kingship of Lord Cullcoil, where he is to perform a mid-summer rite that is already centuries old. Unfortunately, his meeting with a young man will alter the course of his life forever, and set him on a route more arduous than his pilgrimage north.
Storm Serpents
In the second story of Bethran of the Picts, this lavishly researched story set in the world of the Pict Kingdom of Cat, the Seer is sent a token, a token he never thought he would set eyes upon. This worrying trinket could be the omen of some terrible catastrophe to befall the people of the Kingdom of Cat unless he acts quickly. With little or no information, Bethran sets off to a place marked on a map not knowing what awaits him..
The 'Sam' Series
There are two books in the series that are currently in print, 'A Certain Summer' and
'Sam's Kingdom, and though Peter has intimated that there is a third manuscript, there
has been no release date set.
A Certain Summer.
Following the adventures of a boy called 'Sam' growing up in the Midlands through the 1960s, A Certain Summer sees Sam as a young boy with a charming innocence. His imagination and his friends are all he needs to bring life to witches, dragons and Zulus in his small kingdom.
It is hilarious in parts but also sad and poignant with a very nostalgic theme running throughout. It was a time of a more gentle life with Steam Engines and buses with conductors.
The book is a collection of adventures - all true, but not in any ‘real world’ chronological order. The chapter are designed to allow the reader to see Sam growing up and the way that this affects his life.
The book flows from the ingenuous life of children growing up in the sixties to the hardships of working class morality. It is filled with gentle humour but is also spattered with an earthy, and sometimes 'gritty' narrative. The early chapters are concerned with his younger life from as early as seven years old and conclude with Sam in his early teens and experiencing some of the doubts and problems that come with the onset of puberty. The story leaves the reader with the consideration that there is much more to tell.
Sam's Kingdom.
The Sequel to 'A Certain Summer' follows the further adventures of Sam and his friends.
Sam is a little older and crossing that 'no mans land' from child to adult. He still looks back at his earlier life however and thinks about times when he was very young.
Just as hilarious as the first book, Sam's Kingdom continues to tell the story of a more gentle time, following the further adventures of Sam and his friends through those gentle years and into the rocky time of Sam's adolescence. Sam is curious to why things have to change, why can't his world stay the same? Adults seem to want to change things for the sake of it but Sam and his friends don't want that change - they want it as it is.
Sam looks back at his life to see how things have already effected his future and he sees that the older boys around him are moving on too, determined to try and outrun the pace of change he sets out on more hilarious adventures with his friends.
From a Day trip to Blackpool to the legendary 'Black Dog', Sam's adventures rekindle the nostalgia of the first book in this second volume.
Poetry
With Feeling.
The two previous poetry e-books by Peter Gray, "A Fight With A Biro" and "Crossing The Millennium" have been combined into one handy paperback book.
This book covers poetry by the author written over a thirty-four year period and includes some of his earliest and most recent work.
Includes a broad selection of subjects and styles.
Illustrations by Gemma Crombleholme.