Liskeard author Mark Simmons has just published his 9th book, Shadows Washed In Blood, a dramatic story set in 1936, in the era when Mussolini had turned Italy into a fascist state.

The central character, Scott Bradford, arrives in Sicily to search for the enigmatic Antonina Rashleigh, with whom he had a brief affair in Devon before she suddenly vanished. From her brother Dick he learns that the answer to the riddle of Antonina’s disappearance must lie in Sicily. On the ferry to Palermo, he is befriended by the young priest Carlo Miller. Both men are drawn into a web of murder and mystery surrounding the Rashleighs, a family who have made a fortune from the wine trade.

A former Royal Marine, author Mark served with 3 Commando Brigade and with the Commando Logistics Regiment in the 1970s.

Mark will be signing books at the Antiques Fair in Pensilva on Sunday, June 26.