The website of writer and poet Daniel Bennett
Here's an excerpt from the opening chapter of The Second Coming, my new novel following the adventures of hack actor and sometime detective, Billy Vehement. 'The helicopter hung level with the cliff edge, riding against air streams and holding its thrust, resembling a rogue dragonfly confused by the sight of the sea. The thud of … Continue reading The Second Coming: Excerpt
I'm really pleased to publish the second book in my cycle of detective novels featuring the hack actor, Billy Vehement. Set in 2008, the novel follows Billy as he's drawn into the disappearance of one-time performance artist, Stacey Mattick, and the investigation into the stabbing of the grandson to Brixton gospel legend, Beulah Brown. Untangling … Continue reading The Second Coming
I'm very pleased to have launched a new paperback edition of my crime novel My First London Dream, now available here. The novel follows the adventures of hack actor and accidental detective Billy Vehement as he searches South London for the missing filmmaker Felix Link. My First London Dream is the first in a series … Continue reading My First London Dream
'The paper's suggested lottery numbers were three, seven, and twelve. Tanks and air power had been deployed against six thousand rebellious Bolivian peasants. An Eskimo had been shot and killed while trying to divert a Boeing 747 to North Korea. A Breton trawler had gone missing with its eleven-man crew. A woman had celebrated her … Continue reading In Full View Of Its Master
Billy watched Manny hurry across the road with a jerking, awkward movement of his cane, finally slowing down and stalking his way back to the barber shop on Coldharbour Lane. Manny turned and he waved again, a strong, sprawling gesture of benevolence and warmth. Billy huddled in his coat as he walked back to Stockwell … Continue reading Who Wants Sweetness?
Pedy had once told Billy about a film he'd made in the late seventies. The offer had come through to the North Soho News Agency to smear Harold Wilson. 'We'd got the old Trot out of Number Ten,' Pedy explained. 'But we needed to ruin his legacy. The clients involved had requested something really nasty. … Continue reading Late Seventies
The black car squatted on Stockwell Road. Billy Vehement clocked it on his way back from Brixton tube station. The regular gang stood outside the Portuguese delicatessen across the road from his flat, swapping jokes over bottles of Super Bock. Traffic tore up the tarmac; a rogue gull dawdled over the skating park. Billy could only … Continue reading Cappuccino Leather
https://youtu.be/7DpQHs8G1K8 My crime novel, My First London Dream, is now available on Kindle. Hack actor, ex-convict and ex-agent provocateur, Billy is hired by his mentor Peter Priest, a retired director of schlock, who had been advising Felix on the film industry in the weeks before his disappearance. Set in 2007, months before the financial crash, … Continue reading My First London Dream
'A storm was moving into the valley now and the rain had begun to fall and the wind sang down through the vines and he listened for what the house could say to him. So many had claimed that this valley spoke to them and maybe it has spoken to me too but I don't … Continue reading The Valley
‘Dogs keep turning up in this story.’ As you may have noticed, I have a little habit for quotations about dogs. It dates to the early drafts of my novel, when I noted down any dog reference for my background archive. As it turns out, Valero Varesi’s most recent novel is a great dog resource, … Continue reading Valero Varesi
Absence Club 