Ken Lussey Author

Ken Lussey

Ken Lussey spent his first 17 years following his family around the world; his father was a Royal Air Force navigator. This was a process involving seven schools and a dozen different postal addresses. He went to Hull University in 1975, where he spent much of his time hitch-hiking around Great Britain, met his wife Maureen and did just enough actual work to gain a reasonable degree in philosophy, that most useful of subjects!

Before getting a 'proper job', he researched and wrote 'A Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Great Britain', which was published by Penguin Books in 1983. He spent the next couple of decades as a civil servant, during which time he fulfilled the long-held ambition of moving to Scotland. In more recent times he has helped Maureen establish the website 'Undiscovered Scotland' as the ultimate online guide to Scotland and come full circle by returning to writing.

Ken's latest novel, published by Arachnid Press in July 2025, is 'Friend or Foe?', a fast-paced thriller set largely in south-west Scotland. It is the seventh in his series of thrillers set in Scotland and beyond during World War Two. Its six predecessors, 'Eyes Turned Skywards', 'The Danger of Life', 'Bloody Orkney', 'The Stockholm Run', 'Hide and Seek', and 'The Eye of Horus', were published between 2018 and 2024. The third in his series of contemporary novels, 'Thicker Than Water', is a compelling murder mystery set in northern Scotland and was published in September 2024. It follows on from 'The High Road' and 'A Tangled Web', both published in 2023. Ken has also written 'The House With 46 Chimneys', a spooky adventure story for younger readers set in central Scotland against the background of the early days of the coronavirus lockdown. This was published in late 2020.

The World War Two Thrillers:

• 1. Eyes Turned Skywards: September-October 1942
• 2. The Danger of Life: October-November 1942
• 3. Bloody Orkney: November 1942
• 4. The Stockholm Run: March-April 1943
• 5. Hide and Seek: April 1943
• 6. The Eye of Horus: June 1943
• 7. Friend or Foe?: June-July 1943

The Contemporary Novels:

• 1. The High Road
• 2. A Tangled Web
• 3. Thicker Than Water

Background:

• My Life With Books
• The Characters: Bob Sutherland
• The Characters: Monique Dubois

Friend or Foe?

‘Friend or Foe?’ is a fast-paced thriller set largely in south-west Scotland during World War Two.

It’s late June 1943. Bob and Monique Sutherland’s journey home from Malta is interrupted, first in London to hear Soviet claims of a German spy in Scotland and then by a shoot-out between US military units in Lancashire.

Having returned to Edinburgh, they remain only briefly before travelling with a Military Intelligence 11 team to Galloway to track down the spy. How best to catch a ghost who may already have uncovered vital military secrets? Can they find him before it’s too late?

When two Soviet agents arrive in Galloway to help, Bob and Monique need to work out the difference between friend and foe. Does the German spy exist, or is he a Soviet invention intended to lure MI11 into danger?

'Friend or Foe?' will be published by Arachnid Press on 14 July 2025. The cover design is the work of Carolyn Henry Photography

• Pre-order the paperback edition direct from Arachnid Press.
  This may be signed and dedicated at no extra cost if you wish.
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• Find out more about 'Friend or Foe?' on my page about the book, with reviews and links to background information and excerpts.
• Or you can view photographs of locations used in the book here.

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Thicker Than Water

'Thicker Than Water' is a compelling murder mystery set in northern Scotland.

Callum Anderson and Jenny Mackay are spending Hogmanay at Sarclet Castle in Caithness when they are asked to investigate the brutal murder of a young woman at nearby Sarclet Broch in 1943, a woman whose ghost is believed to haunt the castle.

What seems the coldest of cold cases is not the first murder of a young woman at the broch: there was another nearly two thousand years earlier. Nor is it the last. On the day that Callum and Jenny arrive, there is a third fatal stabbing there.

Their investigation into the 1943 murder uncovers shoddy police work and the possibility of a serial killer: but can anything be proved after eight decades? Meanwhile they find themselves drawn into the increasingly dangerous hunt for the latest murderer.

'Thicker Than Water' was published as an eBook by Arachnid Press on 15 September 2024. The cover design is the work of Carolyn Henry Photography

• Buy the Kindle edition from Amazon.
• Buy the eBook from Kobo.
• Buy the eBook from Apple.
• Find out more about 'A Tangled Web' on my page about the book, with reviews and links to background information and excerpts.
• Or you can view photographs of locations used in the book here.

• Buy Kindle
• Buy Kobo
• Buy Apple