I have written a number of books featuring a police officer called Sergeant Freddie Ryan. His character and personality is drawn from an amalgam of people that I've known over my lifetime, plus a few quirks that I have thrown in to amuse myself.

This story introduces Freddie and a number of the other characters that appear in the books. The eagle eyed reader may also recognise that this is not however his first appearance in these stories.

The tale itself is partially inspired by an incident that I observed when I first moved to the North East of England.