Peter Tranter

Biography

I have had my ups and downs. As far back as I can remember I have always wanted to write. I started a school magazine (as a diversion from Latin lessons), largely written by myself (in schoolboy English), which continued to be produced after I left school. Other successes include a 50 minute radio play broadcast by the BBC, (great), numerous articles (over 50) published in local and specialist magazines, and a story outline for a Garth cartoon, which ran for several weeks in the Daily Mirror, a U.K. national daily paper (great again). Then the Editor axed the series which had been running for 40 years! Another paper I wrote for closed immediately afterwards (Gympie Life!). The actress Pauline Collins wanted to play the lead in a screenplay of mine. For a variety of reasons, the key, most probably, the difficulty of obtaining appropriate finance, the project fell through (very sad).In the U.K. I turned a ₤2 million loss making business into profit in 3 months and so the owners sold it (they couldn’t before!) and I was made redundant (don’t be too successful!) Being jobless and over fifty no one wanted to know me (you too?). Needing to eat I drove a taxi. On one trip I was challenged by three pretty teenage girls to write a whodunit. The Treetop Murders was the result (We were driving up a steep wooded hill at the time.) It is selling (fantastic!) For an excerpt click here.
I have been a Marine Radio Officer on the Queen Elizabeth and on other ships, a charity fundraiser for paraplegics, a Business Systems Analyst and programmer, a bread delivery salesman and I’m often involved in building projects, planning, bricklaying, wiring up and plumbing. D.I.Y is challenging, most projects are for the first time so I make many of the novice's first copy cost mistakes but what I get is what I want and not someone else's (maybe received or conditioned) views. Very satisfying; it is cheaper, too!
I was born in the U.K., living there until I married a second time. I now live in Queensland, Australia in 6 acres of long grass and tall gum trees amongst which I can often be found searching for golf balls. In between, as always, I continue to write and publish in various formats. I have to. I cannot help it.

Books

Shambles
Price: Free! Words: 44,070. Language: English. Published: October 4, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Holiday » Humorous, Fiction » Holiday » Family
Shambles is a collection of quick reads. Here you will find short stories, silly verse and something for the young at heart.
The Deadly Dog Watch
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 91,220. Language: English. Published: October 1, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
This is the second Oliver Castle mystery. Out of his element he is pressured to go to sea to investigate.
The Treetop Murders
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 83,760. Language: English. Published: September 30, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
The first Oliver Castle mystery story. A snooker player is strongly suspected of murder and the only way to clear his name is to solve the crime himself.
In Two Minds
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 92,510. Language: English. Published: September 23, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » General, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
XXX signals an American Air Force jet is missing over the Atlantic. A novice radio officer on board a ship sailing from London to Fiji via Curacao and Panama tells how he picks up the message and to his immense surprise provides the key to the eventual rescue.
The Ghosts of Fitzsenior Hall
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 18,990. Language: English. Published: September 19, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Holiday » Humorous, Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
On a foul night and in a foul mood a self styled ghost investigator risks becoming a ghost himself Is Jo, the girl about the place, part of the plot?