11/07/2025
A great write up from Michael Ripley for Shots Magazine for David Brierley's new trilogy.
"Back in 2011-12 I edited new editions of David Brierley’s thrillers Cold War and Big Bear, Little Bearas Top Notch Thrillers (both now reissued by Brash Books) and in 2018, David informed me that he had completed a new novel – his first in over a decade – and would I be interested in reading it? Of course I had to say yes, as we were in a bar at the time, though I was slightly mystified at the title: Matt Clough, Bastard.
The basic premise of the novel was that mild-mannered mid-England wine merchant Matthew Clough discovers that his (now dead) biological father was a Latvian, who might have been a British spy. Travelling to Latvia to claim his ‘inheritance’ he discovers that his father, who died mysteriously, might also have spied for the Russians and possibly, during WWII, worked for the N***s. We then discover that Clough himself had a history of working for British Intelligence.
It was a professional piece of downbeat spy fiction with an unusual setting (Latvia) which showed off all Brierley’s expertise of setting his fiction in off-the-beaten-track locations. I felt, however, that it was too long and advised David to cut 10,000 words from the manuscript – and change the title – before attempting to get it published.
I am not sure how useful David found my advice, but in 2022 I was able to review a thriller set in Latvia, featuring an illegitimate former British spy called Matt Clough. It was published by Safe House Books, was titled Dead Man Telling Tales and was rumoured to be the first part of something called the ‘Dead Hand’ trilogy. Sure enough, a second linked story, set in Hungary (another favourite Brierley hunting ground) appeared as Budapest Hand and this year, the third part of the trilogy set in Tunisia (ditto Brierley hunting grounds) is published as Blue Chalk, Red Blood, White Lightning.
I thought it rather good and it confirmed what I had always known, that Brierley has an Ambler-esque knack when it comes to describing seedy hotels and suspicious policemen. Blue Chalk etc. certainly got five stars from me, but then it really had to as David has dedicated the book to me."
