Books by Mike Scantlebury

It's so simple. Everyone in England wants to own their own house. Why, they'd practically kill for it! Mickey, scouting the dark alleys of South Central Salford for an elusive quarry, The Mandley Park Molester, is dragged into an investigation of deceit, fraud and arson by an attractive young woman, who happens to be a property developer, and a greedy millionairess.Perhaps they can make beautiful music together. After all, as her drippy brother and Mickey's friends from the Fire Department keep reminding him, there's always time for singing!

Amelia Hartliss is having a pretty bad day, dropping in at Salford University to help a friend and finding herself in the middle of a visit by the Prime Minister of Britain. After all, she's complaining: Why wasn't I told? As a foremost operative in the country's most important Security unit, she should have been assigned to protect the man, from dangers, such as attacks and attempted kidnaps. It can't be a coincidence then, that that's exactly what happens, and Melia is the only agent on the inside when it does, while all the other possible helpers are locked out. She tries to keep a low profile, but can't prevent herself being dragged in, putting her body between the leader of the country and those that mean him harm. Perhaps they can come to some accommodation, after all, the PM is willing to listen, but there is a weakness that plagues him - his brother. If Melia can only prevail on him and her Unit bosses to stop escalating the situation, maybe she can cope with the baddies and ensure nobody gets killed.

Amelia Hartliss is used to seeing the worst of human nature, but even she is shocked to see that unscrupulous criminals have made it their business to rip off the most generous charity in Salford. The Booth Foundation has a history of helping people, some of the poorest and most deprived in the city. Surely no one could be so mean minded as to take the bread out of hungry mouths? Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening. The seemingly trustworthy workers are all now under suspicion, and their links to local gangsters are being explored. Melia needs to grit her teeth and hold her nose as she delves deeper into the excesses she is uncovering. Luckily, she has the help of other colleagues in the Unit, such as computer expert Terry. Even Melia's cousin Stan lends a hand. Unfortunately, Melia's most reliable ally, her boyfriend Mickey, is more of a problem. Where the heck is the man? Why can't he be found when he is really needed?

Everybody in Salford is talking about the Secret Garden Festival: it's affecting everything. Melia, preoccupied with the job her Deputy Director is setting her up with next - protecting Prince William at the Olympic Games - has little time to think about flowers and painting, singing and dancing. She has her little cousin to save. Liv, newly enrolled at Salford University, is making enemies faster than a regicide, but for no apparent reason! What could there be? Why would anyone dislike this beautiful, talented, clever, charming, persuasive young beauty? Is it perhaps the awful things her studies and reasearch are uncovering? Is that the problem?Melia needs to know. It's a race against time - save her cousin Liv before her father dies, and before the Garden Festival comes to an unwelcome and unplanned explosive climax.

Salford in England has been a city since 1270, but it has never elected a Mayor before, not until now. The town has been transfixed by the sight of numerous hopefuls falling over themselves to put their names forward and sieze the prestigious - and well-paid - new position. Greed, ambition, naked scramble for power, all the worst qualities of the human psyche have come to the fore, and Melia is involved, but only because her Uncle has asked for her help in getting a friend of his elected. Later it gets more difficult, especially when Uncle Mart puts his own name forward, and then blackmail, sexual assault and murder get added to the mix. Can Melia win through, or, equally as important, can the good name of Salford survive such a depressing spectacle?

Gold is on everyone's mind, the millions in value represented by a haul of gold bars, that disappeared from Salford's docks in 1966. It seems a lifetime ago, but people are remembering former times, inspired by a local project run by the BBC, called 'All Our Stories'. They're asking people to remember the things in their lives that are most important to them, but perhaps they never realised that once Jan Branch gets her audio recorder out and lays it on the table, mysteries and anecdotes are going to come out that aren't all happy memories. They were tough times, back in 1966, and people did anything to try and make a living. Jimmy was good at it, moving in the business of takeaway food, and making a success of it. But he came from a criminal family: his Dad died, after years in prison, and his brother fled overseas. So why has Ben come back? Why now? What does he want? Melia starts to investigate and has to ask what everyone was thinking: what happened to the gold? Why did it never emerge after 1966?

Mickey finds himself drawn into the centre of an unexpected and unwelcome investigation. Manchester's foremost and most famous entrepreneur is under threat, and, with him, the future of the city's bid for the Olympic Games is in doubt. Who is behind the sudden speight of supposed 'accidents'? Who doesn't want England to win? Who doesn't want the city to drag itself out of the dirt and grime of the earlier Industrial Revolution and move on? And, most important, can Mickey help, or is he - with his burgeoning romance and his incipient entanglements - becoming merely part of the problem?

Melia may be an experienced Special Agent, but she has to follow orders, just like everyone else. And if that means nurse maiding the most obnoxious man in England, well, that's just her bad luck. Bad luck to be stuck in a car with the Editor of the worst tabloid newspaper - ever. A man who doesn't know when he's not lying - which is when his mouth is closed. A man who doesn't understand sexist and racist language, just uses them every day of the week. A man who exploits women and uses men, not necessarily in that order. Of course people want to kill him! Bad luck for him then, that a pop singer is offering money to anyone who has a go. That brings volunteers out of the woodwork, every wierdo and nutcase that ever drew breath. Well, Melia wonders, for once, am I on the wrong side? Would the world be a better place with one less Ian McGregor?

Amelia Hartliss is called 'Heartless' by her friends and foes alike, and with good reason. But at least she has always had the assurance, up to now, that she was doing wrong for the right reason. Now she isn't so sure: she has been forced by her boss to infiltrate a conspiracy at the top level of local government, development organisations and health bodies in the North of England, and the depths of depravity sicken her, despite her many years of experience and a feeling she had that she had 'seen everything'. Not quite; human beings have an unlimited capacity to disappoint, as one victim puts it, and Melia has to use all her determination and ingenuity to foil a dastardly terrorist plot to poison the water supply of a major city. But worse, the conspirators are poisoning the minds of the local population too, and turning them against the weakest members of society. It's truly sickening.

Amelia Hartliss is employed by British Security Services to defend the nation against attacks. She is used to that, but in the normal run of things, the assaults are coming from abroad, from extremists not born and raised in this country. It is therefore a nasty surprise to find terrorists on her own doorstep, right in her home town. It's a new challenge, and a bigger fight than anything she's ever seen. If only she had help - but her time and attention are being distracted by her cousin Liv, who is asking Melia for help in clearing the name of a mutual friend who has been sent to prison for a crime he says he didn't commit. It's a nasty business, made worse by the fact that the 'crime' is something that polite people don't like to talk about. Her absence only makes things worse at Regional Office, where the Deputy Director finds himself with a new job - clearing out the stable. He has an idea: Melia could be the first to go.

The General Election of 2015 is tearing the country apart, dividing friends and family, colleagues and workers. Up north, in Salford, the rivalry is even worse, aided and abetted by a series of terrorist outrages that has everyone on their toes. What is going on? Why are they being targeted? Only Mickey and Melia seem to have the ability to answer the questions, even though they aren't even close at the moment. They each have their own assignments. Mickey is on a canal barge, heavily disguised, working his way close to local politicians. Melia meanwhile, has been delegated to work with the Canadian Navy, temporarily berthed in Salford Docks with an enormous submarine. Why are they there? They have brought a present for the British government, they say, but seem surprisingly reluctant to hand it over. Melia wants to ditch the responsibility, and might have done, but for a rather attractive Lieutenant, who is taking up all her attention. Maybe, after all, Mickey will lose his place in her affections. Disaster!

It's only an old church, isn't it? Well, No, the Church of England has abandoned the old building and taken it out of commission. Even though it was designed by one of the foremost Victorian architects, they'd be happy to see it rot, or, perhaps, turned into designer flats by a local property developer.Until that happens, it's a perfect Safe House, a bolt hole for the man Mickey has promised to protect - a man called Lucky. So 'lucky' that he's the target of three local gangs and numerous villains. How lucky is that?His problem, from the point of view of safety, is that he has recently been the lucky winner of several million of pounds of Lottery money. That attracts a lot of attention, and once the news gets out that he's in residence, all kinds of experts and enthusiasts turn up, hoping to see the distinguished building brought back into use. That would be a happy outcome.But if the gangs get their way, there will be nothing but trouble. They like to fight, and Lucky is right in their cross-hairs.

It's a busy year. Mickey is called in to help an old friend, but he's hardly got started when he gets another commission. And another. What's going on? Is it all because the BBC has decided to move its North of England headquarters to Salford Quays, and suddenly the whole world wants something from them?Mickey, confused, frustrated, has to struggle, as the months go by, to make sense of what is happening in his home city, how it is changing, and how it is being forced to change. Not everyone seems happy with the process, not even the BBC, whose members are slowly coming to terms with the fact that though the streets of Salford are outside the windows of their new, glossy buildings, they really have no idea what is happening down there and who these residents really are. Or what they're capable of.

Britain is in the middle of a huge political upheaval. A Referendum has been called with a simple Yes/No question: should the United Kingdom stay in Europe, or cut links and float off into the ocean? Passions are running high and national security is at risk. Those charged with protecting lives and property, such as Mickey's unit, the WSB, are stretched to the limit, fighting existing terrorists as well as some new, unexpected threats. Meanwhile, the pressure from Europe is only part of the day-to-day problems, with interest from other international allies and rivals, like the USA and China, Japan and Russia.Captain Gibson, struggling to field a full team, is forced to press some of his desk jockeys into action, inexperienced people like his Deputy. Happily, he could be useful, though. He was at school in Hong Kong and met the Reverend Umh, now returned to the UK on business. If only Mickey was around more, all would be well.

Who wants healthy, clean, renewable power in Britain? Not the government. They want to re-start a stalled programme of rebuilding nuclear power stations. Curiously, some residents are out to stop them.Poor secret agent Mickey finds himself caught in the middle, with only one thing on his mind. He is determined to try and catch whoever killed his colleague. He is thinking little about politics.This time it's personal.

Mickey and the team are called in to another adventure, but this time it's weird. There's a ship that's been wrecked in the Bristol Channel, but it's two thousand years old and the jars it was carrying hold secrets, vital secrets that could threaten the future of the Christian Church.Is that why people are willing to spy, shoot and kidnap in order to suppress the words that are listed in the containers?In a desperate race to decode the scrolls and save them from attackers, Mickey organises an escape around the leafy lanes of England, trying to stay one step ahead of the terrorists and two steps ahead of other interested parties - a selfish billionaire, an outraged Archbishop, one or two mad monks and the Heir to the English Crown.Who needs that sort of attention?If only Mickey could rely on his team, but the rag-tag bag of people who want to 'help' him include a policeman, some scientists and a person who could be a spy.That's his job!Mickey needs all his resources, his skill, his tenacity.

Melia is suffering from the fact that her boyfriend Mickey is out of town, sent away on a secret mission, according to her boss. She's on her own, left to pick up a favour he promised to a friend, to meet with the woman's ex-husband and see if their marriage can't be saved. It's a mundane matter, far removed from Melia's day job as a Secret Agent. Just her bad luck, then, that she is on hand to witness a murder, taking place at that most unlikely setting, an arts centre on the renovated banks of the River Irwell in Salford. What lofty heights such a setting promises, and what depths of depravity it delivers. Melia is shocked to find evidence of corruption and double-dealing, forgery and fraud. She is swept along by a tide of wickedness, and then another attempted murder forces her to re-consider again; is she out of her depth? Are the murky waters of the river merely concealing worse things than she ever thought possible? Is it time to leave? If only she could: it isn't easy, once you've been kidnapped.