Dead Man Telling Tales
(2022)(The first book in the Dead Hand Trilogy series)
A novel by David Brierley
The master of cold war espionage fiction returns with a tale of intrigue and suspense set in post-Soviet Latvia. When wine-merchant Matt Clough learns that the father he never knew has died, he sets out to discover the truth of his father's past. What he finds is a secret that will mean great riches, or sudden death.
England, 2001. Matt Clough is an ordinary English wine-merchant, approaching middle age with no family and no great ambition. An orphan. An ex-spy.
Latvia, 2001. Krisjanis Kulbergs is far from ordinary. Ex-spy. Double agent. Master of the triple-cross. Guilty of just about every crime or sin the twentieth century had to offer. He is the unknown father of English wine-merchant Matt Clough. He is also dead.
When Clough learns of the death of a father he never knew, he travels to Latvia to uncover the secrets of his father’s life and his own inheritance. The Cold War has been over for a decade, but some men still keep secrets so great that old spies from both sides of the divide will go to any lengths to get hold of them.
Including murder.
International praise for David Brierley
Tough...witty...in the best tradition of suspense fiction.
New Yorker
Super skilled graft of fiction onto history...an authentic winner.
Sunday Times
Unusual, exotic and tantalising.
Irish Times
Has the rancid strength of a distillation of the best of Le Carré and Deighton: an authentic
winner.
Sunday Times
In the top flight of thriller writers.
Natal Mercury
Smashing action scenes...superb entertainment.
New York Times Book Review
Espionage in the le Carré class
The Observer
Brierley’s style is first class, and his evocation of external bleakness...is superb.
The Jerusalem Post
One is definitely hooked from the first page
BBC French Service
About the Author
David Brierley was born in Durban. He moved to Canada, then England and back to South
Africa all by the age of thirteen. Travel and curiosity about different countries is deep in his
nature. After Oxford University, he taught at a lycée in France followed by work in London
advertising agencies. Once his career as a novelist was established he moved to France. As
well as writing, he was a prison visitor. Together with his wife Jill he created a garden that
won first prize in a regional competition. Now back in England, they live near Bristol in a
small market town whose name - Chipping Sodbury - always raises a smile.
Also by David Brierley
Novels
Cold War
Blood Group O
Big Bear, Little Bear
Shooting Star
Czechmate
Skorpion’s Death
Snowline
One Lives, One Dies
On Leaving a Prague Window
The Horizontal Woman
The Cloak-and-Dagger Girl
Death & Co
Short Stories
To El and Back
Safe House Books is an independent British publisher of spy fiction which is reviving quality
espionage for a new audience.
Genre: Thriller
England, 2001. Matt Clough is an ordinary English wine-merchant, approaching middle age with no family and no great ambition. An orphan. An ex-spy.
Latvia, 2001. Krisjanis Kulbergs is far from ordinary. Ex-spy. Double agent. Master of the triple-cross. Guilty of just about every crime or sin the twentieth century had to offer. He is the unknown father of English wine-merchant Matt Clough. He is also dead.
When Clough learns of the death of a father he never knew, he travels to Latvia to uncover the secrets of his father’s life and his own inheritance. The Cold War has been over for a decade, but some men still keep secrets so great that old spies from both sides of the divide will go to any lengths to get hold of them.
Including murder.
International praise for David Brierley
Tough...witty...in the best tradition of suspense fiction.
New Yorker
Super skilled graft of fiction onto history...an authentic winner.
Sunday Times
Unusual, exotic and tantalising.
Irish Times
Has the rancid strength of a distillation of the best of Le Carré and Deighton: an authentic
winner.
Sunday Times
In the top flight of thriller writers.
Natal Mercury
Smashing action scenes...superb entertainment.
New York Times Book Review
Espionage in the le Carré class
The Observer
Brierley’s style is first class, and his evocation of external bleakness...is superb.
The Jerusalem Post
One is definitely hooked from the first page
BBC French Service
About the Author
David Brierley was born in Durban. He moved to Canada, then England and back to South
Africa all by the age of thirteen. Travel and curiosity about different countries is deep in his
nature. After Oxford University, he taught at a lycée in France followed by work in London
advertising agencies. Once his career as a novelist was established he moved to France. As
well as writing, he was a prison visitor. Together with his wife Jill he created a garden that
won first prize in a regional competition. Now back in England, they live near Bristol in a
small market town whose name - Chipping Sodbury - always raises a smile.
Also by David Brierley
Novels
Cold War
Blood Group O
Big Bear, Little Bear
Shooting Star
Czechmate
Skorpion’s Death
Snowline
One Lives, One Dies
On Leaving a Prague Window
The Horizontal Woman
The Cloak-and-Dagger Girl
Death & Co
Short Stories
To El and Back
Safe House Books is an independent British publisher of spy fiction which is reviving quality
espionage for a new audience.
Genre: Thriller
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