Listen to a podcast of the first chapter of Donnie Blake’s novel Artie Yard and a Very English Pickle.

Artie Yard and a Very English Pickle is the first book in a series of light-hearted detective novels featuring football-obsessed amateur sleuth Arthur “Artie” Yard.

The book centres around the 1966 World Cup Finals in London, and sees Artie as a fourteen-year old adolescent, eagerly anticipating the tournament being hosted in England for the first time.

With England a country still struggling to recover from the economic consequences of a financially disastrous World War, the World Cup Finals provides a focus for national pride and optimism. That is until the Jules Rimet Trophy is stolen!

In between the trials and tribulations of home and school, Young Artie unwittingly stumbles upon an elaborate plot that extends far beyond the simple theft of the trophy and, which if it succeeds, could have far-reaching effects for the entire country.

In his quest to unmask the plotters, Artie is assisted by the able and ambitious, young WPC, Ivy Way and, quite unwittingly, by a now-famous Russian linesman. 

Settle back and listen to the first chapter:

Artie Yard and a Very English Pickle is the first book in the World Cup Detective series and is available from Amazon.