MARK REED
...South African writer & author

Some years of expatriate postings to African railways have given Mark Reed a unique insight into local cultures and business methods in remote countries throughout the Dark Continent.
The Guy Lucan series is based on real, existing railway networks in sub Saharan Africa where each story is a combination of crime thriller and travelogue. The author has drawn extensively from his long experience of living in previously French colonies to describe the people and sights of modern day Central Africa.

His first novel, ・Blood Wood・ is set in Madagascar dealing with illegal logging of hard timber forests in the north of the island which has become an international environmental crime. The second in the series, ・Red Gold・ centres on the smuggling of copper ftom the Democratic Republic of Congo through Zambia and Zimbabwe on the original Cecil Rhodes Cape to Cairo railway network. A subsequent book will cover stock market manipulation of an African railway company based in Johannesburg.

The series is aimed at railway enthusiasts, readers interested in exotic travel and those who enjoy a fast moving thriller filled with intrigue, danger, love and ironic humour. Mark continues to work in the railway industry in Central Africa and lives with his family in South Africa. 

RRP* US$17.95   /GBP13.95   /EURO15.95   /AU$24.95   /NZ$25.95

Smuggling the Red Gold out of the interior and evading government taxes has been a petty criminal activity for years but when an organised Chinese crime syndicate systematically moves tonnes illegally, murder and kidnap is added to their crimes.

Beguiling twin sisters divert Guy Lucan’s attention and he becomes the target of the Hong Kong triad who plan his execution. He only escapes from the ‘Heart of Darkness’ by an unlikely combination of chance circumstances.

Guy Lucan’s role as railway investigator again becomes a mix of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond as he follows the Red Gold trail!

Published: June 2017
ISBN 978 1547085422

RELEASE AUGUST 2017
PRINT Format:153 x 229 mm 
6.9 US Trade Paperback
Extant 211pp 
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RRP* US$17.95   /GBP13.95   /EURO15.95   /AU$24.95   /NZ$25.95

Guy Lucan is working on a dull and uninspiring rail consultancy project when circumstances change radically, and he becomes embroiled in a complex financial plot to short the share price of a respected listed logistics company.

Guy befriends a dazzling investment banker in Sandton who introduces him to her homeland of Swaziland, and her royal African heritage. Together they combine their passions and love of epicurean life to savour the tastes and sights of modern post-Apartheid South Africa.

Uncovering this huge crime before it happens puts both himself and Princess Thandi in personal danger from a syndicate of avaricious financiers, unscrupulous hedge fund managers and hardened mercenaries.

Guy Lucan's work in South Africa leads him to discover one of the world's most ambitious railway crimes amongst romance and danger...

Entangled and enthralling!
 

BOOK TWO of the GUY LUCAN SERIES

3 October 2016
ISBN 978 1539165712

RELEASED DECEMBER 2016
PRINT Format:153 x 229 mm 
6.9 US Trade Paperback
Extant 166pp 
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RRP* US$15.95   /GBP12.95   /EURO13.95   /AU$22.95   /NZ$23.95
 

Guy Lucan is an English railway engineer employed by a New York based consulting firm. Posted to Madagascar as part of a World Bank contract, he is to assist with regeneration of the island's 100 year old French colonial railway network. His love of Malagsay life soon develops, and quickly he understands the challenges of managing an antique transport system in Africa.

Soon after his arrival, the State railway is unexpectedly purchased by an emerging local business magnate linked to the Mauritian mafia. Guy discovers the railway is being used to export shipments of illegally logged Rosewood from Madagascar. As he learns more about how the new owner is using the trains to hide these exports and launder millions of dollars of criminal funds, his life is threatened when he is kidnapped by the loggers.

Escaping from capture seems impossible but...

Guy Lucan's role as the railway Director General becomes a mix of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond as the conspiracy deepens ・ powerful and persuasive!

Published: 13 February 2016
ISBN 978 1523753246
RELEASED JULY 2016

PRINT Format:153 x 229 mm 
US Trade Paperback
Extant 196pp 
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