EASTERN PROMISE
Volume Four of The Felix Hart Novels
Felix Hart, Head of Wine at the country’s largest supermarket chain, knows his burgers from his Bourgogne. He also has a nose for trouble. So when the world’s most ruthless luxury goods corporation offers Felix a life-changing sum of money to investigate a billionaire wine fraudster, he suspects there might be a catch.
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But a wine buyer’s salary only goes so far, and Felix’s moral compass directs him east, to China’s golden, haze-shrouded megacities. There, Felix is faced with his greatest challenge yet; a conspiracy as mind-bending as it is terrifying and which threatens to consume the entire world.
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'Stafford-Bow’s satires are well-observed, irreverent, ribald and wicked'
Simon Woolf
FIRING BLANCS
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Volume Three of The Felix Hart Novels
Felix Hart, Head of Wine at Gatesave Supermarkets, is in a highly problematic spot. Choking his CEO to death during a boardroom presentation, through virtually no fault of his own, was embarrassing enough. But evidence that Gatesave’s South African wine supplier is brutalising its workers threatens a far greater scandal. Felix is ordered to Cape Town to suppress the bad publicity, only to find himself stranded, penniless, at a morally suspect township guesthouse.
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Persecuted by his bosses, blackmailed by his suppliers, and terrorised by politicians, policemen and other criminals, Felix is forced to go deep undercover and fling himself on the mercy of his township hosts. But the forces ranged against Felix and his new allies are as powerful as they are ruthless, and Felix soon finds that he is very much expendable.
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In a world of half-baked identity politics, blinkered western privilege and corporate woke-washing, Felix Hart is the white saviour we most need, and Firing Blancs the novel we most deserve.
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'Fast moving and funny' - Tim Lott
BRUT FORCE
The further, staggering adventures
of a professional wine buyer.
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Volume Two of the Felix Hart Novels
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Felix Hart, a wine buyer at the top of his game, finds himself compromised by a ruthless, multinational drinks corporation.
Forced to participate in a high-profile, corrupt wine tasting, Hart is drawn into a terrifying game of cat-and-mouse, pursued by blackmailers, assassins and organic wine fanatics.
The action moves from the Byzantine intrigue of the Minstrels of Wine to France's most glamorous chateaux, Hart relying on his quick wits, fine palate and a touch of muscle to stay ahead of his enemies. But he meets his match in Lily Tremaine, a beautiful and passionate sommelier, who disrupts his easy, pleasure-seeking life and turns his world upside down.
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'It's an insane novel. It's clever ... and brilliantly concocted.'
- Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com
CORKSCREW
The highly improbable,
but occasionally true, tale of a professional wine buyer.
Volume One of the Felix Hart Novels
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Felix, a tragic orphan, is expelled from school, cast onto the British high street, and forced to make his way in the cut-throat world of wine retail. Thanks to a positive mental attitude, he is soon forging a promising career, his sensual adventures taking him to the vineyards of Italy, South Africa, Bulgaria and Kent.
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His path to the summit, however, is littered with obstacles. Petty office politics, psychotic managers and the British Board of Wine & Liquor prove challenging enough. But when Felix negotiates the world’s biggest Asti Spumante deal, he is plunged into a vicious world of Mafiosi, people smuggling and ruthless multinationals.
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Part thriller, part self-help manual and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a coruscating critique of neo-liberal capitalism, religious intolerance and the perils of blind tasting.
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'One of the funniest novels I've ever read. I honestly didn't want this book to end.' - The Wine Stalker
Order a signed copy on eBay with your own message
A wonderful and potentially inappropriate gift for any wine lover!
UK customers can order from Waterstones or many indie bookshops here :
US customers can order from a constellation of indie bookstores here :
AUS customers can order from Booktopia here :
Corkscrew , Brut Force and Firing Blancs are also available from these gigantic, on-line tech multi-nationals
The Felix Hart Novels are on sale in these fabulous, independent bookshops and wine merchants. And any local book store (in Europe, US, Canada, Australia & NZ) can order a copy within days...
Lutyens & Rubenstein, Notting Hill
Books for Cooks, Notting Hill
West End Lane Books, West Hampstead
The Pitshanger Bookshop, Ealing
Stanfords, Covent Garden
Housmans Bookshop, Kings Cross
G. Heywood Hill, Mayfair
Riverside Bookshop, London Bridge
Burley Fisher, Haggerston
Joseph's Bookstore, Golders Green
Bookmarks, Bloomsbury
Corkscrew ISBN: 978-1-911079-35-4
Brut Force ISBN: 978-1-912615-80-3
Firing Blancs ISBN: 978-1-913036-23-2
Eastern Promise ISBN: 978-1-7393999-0-0