Daisy's Chain
- Just Books
- Podcast
Episode 2: Daisy’s Chain
Hello, and a warm welcome to this podcast!
Last week, I introduced myself, and told you about one of my favourite books: Andropov’s Cuckoo – A Story of Love, Intrigue, and The KGB. I actually had some rôle to play in that book as an actor. I was Youriko’s British boyfriend, and my classmate, Tim, was the other guy. A lot of that book is true, and I am thinking of creating a premium section where I can go into more detail about the background of my books in more detail than I can in such a general podcast show as Just Books.
I’ll go into more detail about the premium feature soon. I have also started to publish a trailer so that readers can prejudge whether a podcast requires their immediate attention, or can wit a little.
This week’s book is Daisy’s Chain – A Story of Love, Intrigue and The Underworld on the Costa del Sol.
It is part of The Costa del Sol Collection, and somehow has a similar subtitle to Andropov’s Cuckoo. I wrote it during the time my wife and I were living in Fuengirola, Andalusia, Spain, which is on the Costa del Sol. Thirty kilometres to the south is the infamous town of Marbella, the rich person’s playground in the area. The marina is awesome! In the Sixties, so many of London’s gangland moved there that the press dubbed it the Costa del Crime.
The reputation has stuck, and Marbella is now one one the places to go on holiday for the rich and trendy. However, it is too expensive for most people, so Fuengirola and its suburb, Los Boliches, are near-by cheaper alternatives.
I had been to the area many times before we went to live there, and so had heard dozens stories, legends and myths about the (previous) infamous British underworld inhabitants such as Freddie Forman, who was associated with the Kray Twins and was dubbed “the Godfather of British Crime”. In fact, the third Kray, Charlie, also lived there. Many expats on the Costa have anecdotes about Charlie. There are plenty of videos on YouTube about Marbella.
So, with all this info buzzing around my head, I wrote Daisy’s Chain. However, it is completely ficticious and so are the characters in it. They are not even based on real characters, although the places and some of the bars and clubs mentioned are or were.
At the time of writing, Daisy’s Chain exists in ten languages.
- Daisy’s Chain – A Story of Love, Intrigue and The Underworld on the Costa del Sol.
- 1. Description from the book cover
John is a wealthy, single, ex-London East End gangster living in Marbella, on the Costa de Sol, Spain. The British press have been calling it the Costa del Crime for fifty years, but he doesn't care as long as his quiet life is preserved. One day, his housekeeper, Terri, with whom he is having a liaison announces that she is pregnant; something they both thought was impossible.
John warms to the idea of being a father, so he marries Terri, and Daisy is born. He dotes on her, but has little time. She grows up trying to impress her father, especially after hearing of his former hard-man reputation. As she begins to learn how to take over her father's businesses, she becomes more and more outrageous, until one day, she goes too far, landing her parents in hospital after a revenge attack on them which she had caused.
Her mother wants to teach her a lesson in life, but how do you punish a girl who already has everything?
- 2. Reviews From Amazon:
a] I enjoyed this audiobook. Wonderfully written and narrated, I was completely immersed in Daisy's life. A charmed upbringing did nothing to change the DNA of her crime boss father from influencing her sense of privilege and feelings of revenge. Surrounded by 'fixers' her crimes go unpunished by man's law but she suffers greatly from regret.
b]You will definitely love the ending---it is one that will leave your heart swelling with happiness.
Poor little rich girl grew up with everything but the attention she needed from her parents. Even after she graduated college she was still trying to get her father's attention. She finally convinced him to allow her to work in the "family" business. He had his doubts but ultimately allowed her to work the legitimate ones.
Unfortunately she was more like her father then anyone realized and very very smart.
When her current boyfriend (her father thoroughly disapproved of him!) said he would do anything for her-----well revenge is sweet until it isn't.
Thankfully her Mom took her in hand after tragedy struck and straightened her out. You will definitely love the ending—it is one that will leave your heart swelling with happiness.
- 3. Sample from the book
- Daisy's Chain
- by
- Owen Jones
- 1 LA VILLA BLANCA, MARBELLA, 1995
- Teresa was lying on her back on the bed breathing deeply with a wide grin on her face next to her boss, John, who, at sixty-five had taken far too much punishment in life to be able to take an active rôle in making passionate love himself. He liked her to swear as she pleasured them both, but it did not come naturally to her, so she usually forgot to in the heat of the moment. Teresa was forty-two and proud to have John as her lover. In fact, she had loved him for years despite the large age gap. She had first been attracted to the distinguished Englishman when he had used to come to buy things from her in Fuengirola market, and had fallen in love with him since almost the first day he had taken her on as his cook and housekeeper. Little did she know at the time that his frequent visits to the market had been excuses to see her.
- “That was great, Teri, girl... Oh, yes... You’re enough to make a grown man cry”.
- Teresa rolled over towards her lover onto his waiting right arm. She put her right arm across his chest as they kissed.
- “You are the best”, he said to her.
- “It is easy for me to make you happy, Johnny, because I love you. You are my hero and my saviour”, she replied, as she frequently did.
- An explosion sounded as a muffled crump from outside. The phone rang as John was reaching out for it. It was the person he had been about to call just as he knew that it would be.
- “What was that, Tony?” he asked without a trace of anxiety in his voice.
- “I’m not sure yet, boss, but we haven’t been hit…” He was interrupted by a second explosion similar to the first and then a third of a different kind. “It’s coming from down the road some way off. I think it’s the O’Leary’s place judging by the plumes of smoke. I’m going outside now to get a better look”. Tony was a big man, the shape of a door with a bald head on it. He was John’s chief of security and had been with him for ten years.
- John could hear him running over the phone, not breathing heavily at all, and then stop. “I’m about two hundred yards from their front gate now. It looks like the house has been hit, and the front gate… and there are bits of motorcycle everywhere… Two men are down… on fire… Oh! I think they have just been offed with a single baseball bat strike to the back of their necks. Looks like a drive-by with RPG’s to me. I’m coming back in. I don’t want to be nabbed as a witness to this”.
- “No, of course not. Come back and play dumb, but see what you can find out on the QT. Appraise me later”. He rang off.
- Five minutes later, John had fallen asleep, as he frequently did, and Teresa quietly got up, dressed and went back to work - it was time to arrange her employer’s dinner.
- During the meal, Tony gave John his verbal report of the bombing.
- “This is not official, boss, but I got it from one of O’Leary’s lads, so I reckon that it’s as near the truth as we are ever going to get. It was a drive-by and they did use rocket-propelled grenades. Apparently, they fired the first one as they passed by. It went through the railings of the gate and hit the house. The gatekeeper, who was probably counting his lucky stars that he wasn’t blown up, got a few shots off.
- “The riders then came back past the gate and fired again, but the tail-fire from the RPG must have ignited fuel leaking from a bullet hole in the petrol tank and it blew up. The second grenade did strike the gate, as the first one was probably meant to, and blew it in. When the bike exploded and the riders came back to Earth on fire. O’Leary’s men broke their necks with baseball bats so there would be no loose ends”.
- “Who was responsible, do they reckon, Tony?”
- “He said they don’t know, but when I suggested that it was a rival Irish gang from back home, he didn’t say that it wasn’t”.
- “Anyone else besides the riders hurt, was there?”
- “The gatekeeper is in a bad way. He’s got shrapnel wounds and those big wrought iron gates gave him quite a whack when they blew in, but he’ll probably live. A cleaner got some splinters of glass in her arris, but she’s all right. The O’Leary’s were around the back near the pool, so they are all OK too.
- “Did the police get there? I heard some sirens, I think, but I was asleep by then and could have been dreaming”.
- “No, they got there all right… and the fire brigade and the ambulance, after it was all over. The O’Leary’s had even put the gatekeeper and the cleaner in the Range Rover and taken them both to hospital by then. The ambulance took away the riders’ bodies; the fire brigade sprayed the smoking wreckage then checked the house for structural damage and the police cordoned off the area. There’s still a load of them out there now trying to look concerned and busy.
- “They asked me if I’d seen anything and I said only the smoke. They don’t really give a monkey’s as long as there are no Spanish involved”.
- “No, you’re right. Well, thanks for that, Tony. Well done, as always. Do you think that we’re in any danger?”
- “No, boss, it was just the Micks, er, sorry, boss, the Irish, having a turf war. Nothing to do with us. I’ve brought a couple of extra hands in though, just to be sure”.
- “Good. Have you eaten yet?” he asked motioning to a chair.
- “No, but there’ll be something waiting for me in the office when I get back. Thanks”.
- “If you’re sure, Tony. You’re always welcome, you know that. OK, up to you, don’t let me keep you from your grub. I’ll see you later on my rounds”. John liked to walk around the gardens near the house twice before going to bed as part of his exercise regimen.
- 4. Clip from the audiobook
narrated by William Hill
- 5. Links
a] The first chapter of Daisy’s Chain is on my blog here:
https://bit.ly/Daisy-1st-chapter-MPS
b] Buy links:
1] Audiobook: ISBN: 9788835441489 Tektime:- https://bit.ly/Daisy-Eng-TT-audio
2] eBook: ISBN: 9788835413851 Tektime:- https://bit.ly/daisy-eng-tt
3] eBook and paperback: ASIN: B08NLVFN83 Amazon:- https://amzn.to/3Lz92l
4] eBook and Audiobook: GooglePlay:- https://bit.ly/Daisys-Chain-GooglePlay
If you didn’t catch the links, they will be in the notes. Otherwise, just email me.
- 6. Thanks
Thank you for listening to my podcast, I hope that you enjoyed it.
Please subscribe, free of charge, using the button below, to be alerted when other episodes are released - about one a week.
If Daisy’s Chain seems to be right up your ally, please use the links above to find out more, or buy the book.
I’d love to hear from you, and especially what you think of the story.
Until next time,
Owen.