THE WHISTLING SANDS
Ex-con Ned Flynn is handy with his fists, but to see his mother looking so frail breaks the big man’s heart. He needs money, and he needs it fast. So when a local businessman asks him to find his missing wife, Ned accepts the job without question.
He tracks her down to a remote village on the Welsh coast. But what starts out as a simple errand quickly spirals into deceit and violence.
The Whistling Sands is an unforgiving landscape. A landscape of fear, suspicion, and guilt, where ghostly visions take shape. Real encounters or hauntings conjured by a troubled imagination?
Fans of rural noir - James Lee Burke, David Joy, J. Todd Scott, and literary crime - Cormac McCarthy, Jim Thompson and James M. Cain will love this powerful and haunting story.
Praise for THE WHISTLING SANDS
“With a stripped down, return to the classics style of writing, Math Bird has created a book that drips with a sense of nostalgia for the days when books flexed their muscles through economy of words, potentially double-crossing dames, and plots that were launched with nitro slapped on their backs . . . you find yourself sucked into the story and you will soon find yourself invested in every word, sentence, and paragraph. Bird does a fantastic job keeping this story moving forward and cutting out extraneous plot points, leaving you with a story that is a fast read with never a dull moment.” Out of the Gutter Online
WELCOME TO HOLYHELL
Veteran conman, Nash returns to his hometown to locate the money stolen from him. All he has is a hunch and a newspaper clipping of the boy who witnessed his partner’s death. Their fates become entwined, but in a world of violent drifters and treacherous thieves, a man’s conscience can become his weakness.
A poignant and dark thriller, rich with atmosphere, for fans of small-town crime and rural noir.
Praise for WELCOME TO HOLYHELL
"Welcome To HolyHell has the sharp plotting of peak Elmore Leonard combined with the brooding lyrical atmosphere of James Lee Burke. The characters are all marvelously well-drawn and the sense of time and place is spot on." Punk Noir Magazine
"Math Bird gives us a fine bit of noir in 1976 Wales." Murder in Common Crime Fiction Blog
"A remarkable work that will have you dreading as well as eagerly turning the page." Unlawful Acts - Crime Fiction blog
HISTORIES OF THE DEAD
West of the River Dee, lie the borderlands of north-east Wales, an in-between place caught between two countries.
Travel inland and you’ll pass the towns and villages, where ancient relics and abandoned factories harbour the ghosts of past glories. The tree-clad hills snake up from the valley where secrets and dark deeds whisper through the tall trees.
Whether they are young and fearful of the future, or old with their best years behind them, the men and women of this striking short story collection are haunted by their past; they live on the periphery, crossing the border into crime because sometimes to live, love, or just survive, vengeance is the only option.
HIDDEN GRACE
Revenge is best served cold, but the road to retribution starts within.
In his quest to find those who double-crossed him, Ned Flynn seeks the help of retired small-time fence, Eddie Roscoe. But Eddie’s services come with a price. If Flynn wants the information he needs, then he must help Eddie find his missing son. As Flynn and Eddie retrace the lad’s steps, they discover his disappearance is more sinister than they hoped and become embroiled in a world beyond their worst nightmares.
Can Flynn and Eddie survive, or are the hunters destined to remain the prey?
WITCHES COPSE
A gripping folk-horror occult-noir thriller in the tradition of The Wicker Man, Kill List and The Witch.
It’s 1979, the Winter of Discontent, and gun for hire, Elizabeth Daton’s career ends abruptly when a job results in a young girl being hospitalized. Her luck changes when renowned barrister Quentin Quinby hires her to travel to a remote Welsh village and escort an acquaintance of his back to London from the ominous Witches Copse.
Daton agrees, desperate to make amends, believing she’s been given a second chance. But what begins as a simple errand quickly escalates into a terrifying ordeal of possession, witchcraft, and the occult.
Can Daton triumph, or is she doomed to pay redemption’s price?