Whisper For The Reaper, Jack Gatland [good books for high schoolers txt] 📗

design and on book formatting all the way to my friends and family, who saw what I was doing not as mad folly, but as something good. Also, I couldn’t have done this without my growing army of ARC readers who not only show me where I falter, but also raise awareness of me in the social media world, ensuring that other people learn of my books, and editors and problem catchers like Maureen Webb, Chris Lee, Edwina Townsend, Maryam Paulsen and Jacqueline Beard MBE, the latter of whom has copyedited all five books so far (including the prequel), line by line for me.

But mainly, I tip my hat and thank you. The reader. Who took a chance on an unknown author in a pile of Kindle books, and thought you’d give them a chance, whether it was with this book or with my first one.

I write Declan Walsh for you. He (and his team) solves crimes for you. And with luck, he’ll keep on solving them for a very long time.

Jack Gatland / Tony Lee,

London, March 2021

About the Author

Jack Gatland is the pen name of #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Tony Lee, who has been writing in all media for over thirty years, including comics, graphic novels, middle grade books, audio drama, TV and film for DC Comics, Marvel, BBC, ITV, Random House, Penguin USA, Hachette and a ton of other publishers and broadcasters.

These have included licenses such as Doctor Who, Spider Man, X-Men, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, MacGyver, BBC’s Doctors, Wallace and Gromit and Shrek.

As Tony, he's toured the world talking to reluctant readers with his 'Change The Channel' school tours, and lectures on screenwriting and comic scripting for Raindance in London.

An introvert West Londoner by heart, he lives with his wife Tracy and dog Fosco, just outside London.

Locations In The Book

The locations that I use in my books are real, if altered slightly for dramatic intent. Here’s some more information about a few of them…

Hurley-Upon-Thames is a real village, and one that I visited many times from the age of 8 until 16, as my parents and I would spend our spring and summer weekends at the local campsite. It’s a location that means a lot to me, my second home throughout my childhood, and so I’ve decided that this should be the ‘home base’ for Declan.

The Olde Bell is a real pub in the village too, although owned by a hotel chain rather than man named Dave. It was founded in 1135 as the hostelry of Hurley Priory, making it one of the oldest hotels (and inns) in the world. There is a secret tunnel, that was used by John Lovelace to overthrow royalty, although it’s not as traversable as I’ve claimed here. It was also used as a meeting point for Churchill and Eisenhower during World War II. The Library in the Malthouse also exists.

Temple Inn Golf Club exists, and my dad used to play many rounds there when I was a kid. The sixteenth hole is exactly where I state it is in the story. The course was designed by the 1887 and 1889 Open Champion Willie Park Jr in 1909, and it was indeed built on land once owned by the Knights Templar.

The Crypt at Hurley Priory is real; founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1086 in memory of his first wife, the Priory was central to the life of the village for 450 years until Henry VIII’s reforms swept it away in 1536. Believed to also be the site of an Anglo-Saxon church founded by St Birinus as he converted the Thames Valley in the 7th century, Editha, the sister of Edward the Confessor, is rumoured to have been buried in the church, and therefore near the crypt. In the 16th Century the Lovelace family took the manor, building Ladye Place, and it was here in 1688 that John, the 3rd Lord Lovelace played a significant role in the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution. The crypt became a centre of plotting and its said that fellow aristocratic conspirators would enter by way of underground tunnels that led from the river or The Olde Bell to avoid detection. This crypt, which still stands in private grounds on the old monastic estate at Hurley, was also visited by both William of Orange and George III.

Finally, the Dew Drop Inn also exists, and was actually a pleasant surprise; when writing book one I had a totally different area for Patrick Walsh’s car crash and death, but when revisiting the scene I realised that it wouldn’t have worked. Picking the junction of Honey Lane as a new location, I realised very quickly that forensically, the crash could only have happened if he travelled from a different direction, and I decided to use the Dew Drop Inn as a location, not realising how important it would become in the tale. The building itself dates back to the 1600's and is steeped in history owing to its reported use by the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin and his horse Black Bess, who would stable in the cellar. Which is lovely as a story, but Black Bess was a fictional creation used in the novel Rookwood, and as such wouldn’t have actually been there. There is proof that Turpin did move around Berkshire though, so there’s every chance that he (and whatever horse he really rode) visited there.

If you’re interested in seeing what the real locations look like, I post ‘behind the scenes’ location images on my Instagram feed. This will continue through all the books, and I suggest you follow it.

In fact, feel free to follow me on all my social media, by clicking on the links below. They’re new, but over time it can be a place where we can engage, discuss Declan and put the world to rights.

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