The Sound of Pirates ~ Paperback ~ Terrence Brand

Anna isn't dead...yet! It has been more than twenty years since Ex-Squadron Leader Duncan Laing saw her, since when he thought she had been executed by the Japanese...until he meets John Newton. Newton, ex Royal Air Force, whose last posting was at RAF Changi, Singapore, has seen Anna with his own eyes. What could be more straightforward than Newton being tasked with bringing Anna back to England, to reunite her with Laing, now a manufacturer of high tech electronic components? When Newton arrives, Anna and her daughter Lucy are nowhere to be found. Times have changed and 1960s Singapore is a hotbed of conspiracy and undercover activities. After falling foul of communist renegades, Anna and Lucy are on the run. Newton sets off on a perilous quest to find them. As he chases through the Malacca Straits, Newton needs all the help he can get, but who is his enemy's enemy and can he trust him not to change sides? And how are the renegades caught up in industrial espionage?Author BiographyThe son of a career airman, Terence Brand joined the Royal Air Force from school. Having spent several years servicing aircraft engines, with stints in strife-torn Cyprus and hot and dusty Malta, he was posted to Singapore. Here he took on a new job, policing and administrating the men of RAF Changi's technical wing. Singapore Island, newly federated with Malaya, was, at that time, feeling its way towards independence, amid much trauma and belligerence. British soldiers, sailors and airmen found themselves acting both as peacemakers during the riots and targets for the Malayan Communist Party's ferocious Guerrillas. A medal-the Service to Malay Award-has been issued to all who took part in the campaign, including TB. At the end of his tour, Terence Brand decided to exchange battledress for sports jacket and flannels and try his luck in civvie street. A love of music and its quality reproduction in the home drew him to the rarefied world of the British hi-fi industry. Inevitably, becoming a part of it entailed retraining in electronics. At last, after several years working in Radio and TV servicing, a chance came to get involved in his first love. Entering the retail business as a salesman, he eventually assumed the management/directorship of a highly respected Hi-Fi emporium. After twenty-five years in retail, early retirement beckoned. Seeking something different to occupy his mind, he started to write. A series of short stories set in Singapore describing the adventures of Senior Aircraftsmen John Newton and Red Halliday -under the collective title: On the Changi Beat- has won prizes; a group of novels featuring a dramatically maturing Frank 'Red' Halliday are receiving welcome interest. (Red's Rebels, Mediterranean Red, The Angels See Red, and, in preparation, Red Sleuths in the Sunset). So now, writing, walking, a little billiards and snooker and a deal of music fill his days.