The Man who Cleaned Gravestones

Why would a retired detective be cleaning gravestones? Bob Macinaly had to retire from the job he loved after having been shot by a bank robber. He had taken a holiday in Mallorca trying to get his life back together. By chance, he found himself in a Salvation Army charity shop and purchased a second-hand book. A letter hidden inside changed his life forever. As a police officer he moved from one case to another and very seldom could he follow up on the unseen victims left behind, namely the close families who would suffer forever whilst the convicted murderer would live out life in, some would say, comparative luxury.

From now on this would be different; he would become close to human trafficking and the evil controllers and the crime lords making millions at the cost of human lives.

The Seminar Murders

This story opens with a murder: a prominent criminologist at a provincial university is found dead, with his head beaten in. Neither his academic colleagues nor his students liked the victim it seems, and the police investigating the crime are confronted at the outset with too many motives and too many suspects. Then the professor of the criminology department is found with her throat cut. Apart from being colleagues, did this pair have anything else in common? Who hated them both enough to kill them? Who else is at risk? Is there a malign presence stalking the calm corridors of academe, and can the police move quickly enough to prevent further deaths? In a fast-paced narrative, persuasive in its realistic depiction of both university life and a police murder investigation, the reader is immersed in the events and is present at the interviews of suspects. Using multiple strands of narration, the author takes us on a forensic path into the mind of a clever and ruthless killer.

The Big Dead Dry

Would you drive into a small Australian town in drought, packed with intrigue, lust and murder?Brumby Flat, a small country town in South Australia, suddenly rises to notoriety and becomes the centre of the world through a baffling series of murders and accidental deaths.Raquel Willaston and her son, Steve, have just moved into town, and Raquel soon gets caught up in the local goings on, whether she wants to or not, and a love entanglement she’d rather not deal with.The quiet arrival of a mysterious homeless man and his subsequent brutal murder at the base of the town silos is the catalyst for the chaos which erupts.City-based Senior Detective Phillip Duncan is in charge of the ensuing investigations and has to cope with some colourful and quirky characters to find out who the killer is. There’s Anabella Williams who wears vintage clothes and still lives in the 1950s and is renowned for her ‘killer cakes’. Famous silo mural painter Phil Proctor, newly arrived from New York, seems to know more than he lets on. There’s Chris Jones, an ex-military officer, who lives his life with military-like precision. Bridie Browne, who runs the local post office, seems more preoccupied with the male of the species rather than actually sorting mail.And then there’s ‘The Raindrops Shop’ run by Bette Mitchell which offers a range of merchandise completely at odds with a town in the middle of a two-year drought.Nothing is as it seems in Brumby Flat. It’s going to be a tough ask to identify the serial killer hiding amongst them.

Fool’s Gold

Vicky Taylor was not looking forward to the coming year, and with good reason. No job, no boyfriend, and no prospects. However, a chance meeting with a charismatic young man and the promise of a new job help her start to put the dark days of her past behind her. Her life is looking up, but then Covid hits, and like the rest of the country, her world is turned upside down as the demons from her past return to haunt her.Meanwhile, Justin Kell faces his own problems when Molly’s father becomes the victim of a callous investment fraud. The case puts him on the trail of a ruthless criminal determined to maintain his corrupt empire. With Molly expecting their first baby in the spring, the outbreak of Covid pushes their relationship to the limit, forcing Justin to make some stark choices.When murder happens on his doorstep, the ensuing chain of events leaves Kell wondering if their lives will ever be the same again.

Hidden Agenda

Paul Enfield decided to take a five-year ‘Gap Year’ to work on a small island in the South Atlantic. After completing his contract, he returned to London, finished his degree, and secured a job with the Department of Health. However, his supervisor is determined to provoke Paul into an attack, aiming to get him dismissed.

Caroline Aston befriends Paul and, using her unique gift, they uncover a series of letters and documents from the Department of Health’s computer. Realizing the significance of their discovery, Paul sends the materials to a friend who ensures their distribution to the media, causing a major scandal for the government. Together, Paul and Caroline work as a team to expose the civil servants and businesses profiting from the scheme in the South Atlantic.

Beyond Sight

Jonny Sears, a young boy seeking refuge from his parents’ troubles, embarks on a summer adventure that takes a terrifying turn when he finds himself trapped in the depths of hell, encountering both benevolent and malevolent characters as he navigates the treacherous landscape, testing his resilience and determination in a gripping tale of a perilous odyssey that will leave readers breathless, wondering if Jonny will ever find his way back to the world he once knew.

The Silver Necklace

“A fascinating glimpse into complex characters on both right and wrong sides of the law, by author and retired judge Jack Billings, who undoubtedly has seen both up-close.”

                Randi Bjornstad, career journalist, founder, Eugene Scene, e-magazine

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Police always encounter people they never forget. For Megan O’Brian, one was Chad Mitchell, a scared, mistreated little boy she encountered while working as a juvenile corrections officer. She always wondered what happened to him. Then they met again.

By then a sheriff’s detective, O’Brian was lead investigator for the disappearance of talented Cassie Edwards, who failed to return home from her regular bus trip to and from a piano lesson after her 15th birthday party. She wore as always her favorite gift, a beautiful and unusual necklace, given to her by her grandmother.

The trail goes frustratingly cold as O’Brian and fellow investigators, Cal Underwood and Herman Jackson, search in vain for clues to her whereabouts and her fate, until a deer poacher finds Cassie’s body in a remote area.

But finding her killer eludes them, until O’Brian has a sudden, middle-of-the-night realization: a photograph Jackson had taken of recovered stolen property in another case. One of those photos shows an unusual necklace, identical to the one Cassie wore in a picture from her birthday party.

Did Cassie’s killer take the necklace as a trophy? How did it get into a trove of stolen property? Did the killer try to get rid of it? Or was it stolen from the killer? And who were they looking for?

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         “Well-developed characters, engaging story, professional police work. A good read.”

                                Kurt Wuest, Lane County Sheriff’s Detective (ret.)

“Untreated autism, methamphetamine addiction, interstate fencing of stolen property propel this story of murder and apprehension to a conclusion.”

                                Chuck Tilby, Captain, Eugene Police Department (ret.)

“Billings’ writing evokes Michael Connelly. A bus system’s operation is cleverly woven into the plot.”

                Mark Pangborn, General Manager, Lane Transit District (ret.)

The Istanbul Gambit

Severely traumatised, Dr. Hafez Yilmaz has left war-torn Eritrea to work at a charity-run clinic for refugees in Sicily. He is just about holding his demons at bay when a child is brought in, her life hanging by a thread. She has been trafficked and left to die in a ditch.

Convinced that the local police are not doing enough to trace the traffickers, Hafez sets out to investigate. His life in grave danger, he ends up hiding in Scotland where he befriends a local girl, Yasmin Cilic, and encounters her brother, Orhan, a sinister figure with links to organised crime.

At Orhan’s nightclub, Hafez overhears a conversation about children being trafficked into Scotland, and once again decides to investigate on his own – a decision that will have terrifying consequences for himself, and for Yasmin who will be abducted by her brother and held captive at a derelict warehouse on the outskirts of Istanbul. She witnesses a gun battle between Turkish police and her captors, leaving five people, including a police officer, dead. She escapes but is left to struggle for survival in the backstreets of Istanbul, alone, destitute and in great danger.

Once again, Commander Kadir Demercol and former Superintendent John Arbuthnot confront the dangerous task of resolving a case of murder and trafficking stretching Scotland to Istanbul. A case that will put their quick-thinking, courageous wives at risk.

The Chairman

India’s finest cricketer is found murdered in a Kolkata dressing room. Theories abound about who is responsible: match fixers, Pakistani fans or disaffected team mates? All eyes are on India until Australia’s best player also meets his demise in the cricket nets at the SCG.

It is Mike Dunn’s job to find out who is dismissing the world’s best cricketers. The mission takes him across the globe searching for a murderer or a group of assassins who are tearing the game asunder.

In a thrilling race around the world, Dunn finds himself a step behind at every turn until a chilling theory reveals itself…

The Fens

The Fens is a gripping modern crime novel which opens with the discovery of a body lying dead on top of a grave in a local churchyard. Mysteriously, it has been laid out in decorous and reverential fashion, completely at odds with the fact that the victim has been murdered!

Detective Inspector John Naylor is put in charge of the murder of local councillor and MP Malcolm Fenton. He chooses newly qualified Police Constable Cassandra Money to help him untangle the MP’s complex private life and business interests. It seems that everyone they meet had a good reason to want to get rid of Malcolm Fenton.

The investigation takes a turn when one of Fenton’s colleagues complains about Inspector Naylor’s attitude and a commissioner from Scotland Yard arrives at the rural police station to take over. Is Inspector Naylor simply annoyed because he has lost control over the investigation, or is he more involved in the case than he is letting on?

Constable Cassandra Money is torn between her loyalty to the inspector and her growing suspicion that he is keeping secrets. Can she solve the murder and save the inspector’s reputation?

The Green Spiral Continues

In this fast-moving sequel to The Green Spiral, confronting the runaway destruction of Planet Earth by some dangerous humans shows that there is a very fine line between fantasy and reality.

The central characters provide a glimmer of hope for those who are fighting to save Nature, or is it too late?

Nature herself begins to show her true colours, as she decides it is time to teach those who aim to destroy, a lesson.

The Signature Killer

The crosshairs of the rifle scope were focused on a spot just behind the left ear. Before taking the shot, the assassin picked up a pair of binoculars to scan the area to be sure the shot wasn’t going to be interrupted. He was looking at two men sitting at a small table outside a pub in Dublin, Ireland, each having a pint. Re-focusing the rifle scope, he took the shot. A small hole appeared just behind the left ear of the man known to be a high-ranking member of the Irish Republican Army. One eye popped out of his head and bounced off the table to the ground and rolled away. The other eye hung on his cheek by the optic nerve. A gray soup-like material that had been his brains, started to flow from his eye sockets, ears, and nose. As his body slumped over on the table, the other man, a secret member of an IRA opposition group from Belfast smiled and walked away from the table. 320 yards away, Stephen Finn was dismantling his rifle, removing his coveralls and gloves, and placing everything in his custom made briefcase. Stephen left the sparsely occupied building, and got into the stolen car he had waiting. He calmly drove to a small airstrip just outside of Dublin where he left the car, put on his flight suit and climbed into his very technologically advanced, custom designed jet and headed to the United States. After landing just south-west of Boston, Stephen Finn no longer existed. The man that emerged from that jet was now Antonio De Luca with all of the papers to prove he had been born and raised in the United States.

Follow Tony in the next Antonio De Luca Adventure Series Story titled, “Stephany’s Life”.