South by Southwest Wales

"Samson Valentine. Once the best gumshoe in the city, but now little more than a washed-up has-been. The question is, though; which city? And when?

With a touch as deft and as quick as an assassin's knife, Owain-Hughes presents us with a classic flawed hero. An inherently good man in a world gone bad. This is a fabulous story that weaves its way seamlessly from 1940s Chicago to modern day Cardiff, thanks to the broken mind of its main character. A man you can trust with your life, but whom you cross at your peril.

This is one hell of a read. I can't think of a better evening than to sit in the pool of light from a shaded chintz lamp, sip a single malt, and get lost in South by Southwest Wales. Pure magic." - Richard Ayre

Samson Valentine is the best private eye ever to wear a fedora-or at least he was, before he became a washed-up booze hound. There simply isn't a demand for a whiskey-swilling Welsh gumshoe who insists he's living in 1940s Chicago, but everything changes when a huge diamond falls into his lap. Before he's knows what's going on, Samson find himself swept up in the biggest case of his life. The mob will do anything to get its gemstone back, and they prove it when Sam's friend turns up dead. Now it's personal, and Sam sets out on a one-man mission to take down the Welsh crime syndicate. Armed with little more than his wits and his fists, the odds don't look good. Too much time at the bottom of a whiskey bottle has given him trembling hands and an addled brain. If he's to have any chance of bringing the mob to justice, he'll first need to come to grips with his worst enemy-himself.