A real big hitter in the literary world has been signed up for the first headline author event of the new year at Letchworth’s David’s Bookshop.

Gerald Seymour is famed for his painstaking research and the remorseless way his multi-stranded stories ratchet up the tension as he brings characters together for a conclusion which can rarely be described as a climax. The people he writes about are often already damaged when the story begins, and even more so by the final page.

Since he scored a giant hit with his first book Harry’s Game in the 1970s, the former globetrotting ITN reporter has set his tales of often ordinary people being tested in extraordinary circumstances all over the world – from the mountains of the Middle East to nearby Luton.

In his latest, an East End lad posted by his bank to the Berlin office gets tangled up with vicious Italian mobsters when he steps in to help a damsel in distress.

Many of his previous books have taken terrorism and organised crime as themes – Harry’s Game was the first thriller to tackle the IRA and the Troubles – and the storylines are based both on his own years of experience as a frontline reporter in some of the world’s most dangerous troublespots and his meticulous insider knowledge of the darker corners of global conflict.

You can meet the author at the Eastcheap shop from 7.30pm on Thursday, January 21, and the £3 ticket price can be deducted from the price of a book if you buy a £12.99 hardback copy of No Mortal Thing on the night.

You can call the shop on 01462 684631 to reserve your tickets, and visit the website at www.davids-bookshops.co.uk for more information and to find out about other dates on the calendar.