British children's author John Priest was born in a town called Netherton (where the anchor and chain were made for the Titanic) in the West Midlands.
One of seven children (three girls and four boys), John started writing seriously in 1985 and had several articles published in national magazines. His first children's book, 'Naughty Nigel Runs Away', was published by Ginn & Co, Ltd. This was followed with 'Tom's Birthday Treat' and 'Answer The Phone Fiona!'
His latest book is 'The Curse of Sea Shell Cave', the second book in the popular children's detective/whodunit series of Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators.
CRIME-BUSTING PALS
The first book is ‘The Boomerang Mystery: Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators’. The story follows junior private investigators, 10-year-old Harry and his three friends, Stan and identical twins Polly and Lily, in their crime-busting investigations and is a 'starter chapter' book for good readers aged 7 years upwards.
A NOVEL IDEA
I asked John what the book is about.
“The Jay-Pea-Eyes have an unusual mystery to solve for their first case,” he said. “Children go missing and police have organised a massive search of Dudleigh town. A phone call from a security officer at Russington Hospital immediately has police heading for the Accident & Emergency Department.”
The plot thickens as the missing children mysteriously return to the hospital. No-one saw or heard anything.
“It’s as though the children fell from the sky,” John added. “The doctor is puzzled; the children are in excellent health but are refusing to talk to anyone, not even their own parents.Local detectives are baffled. Where have they been? What have they been doing? Why won't they talk? All questions the police want answered. Urgently.
“When Harry’s sister goes missing, the friends take it on themselves to investigate. They are determined to solve the mystery once and for all. The big question is: will they solve the mystery before the police?”
CRIME-BUSTING PALS
The first book is ‘The Boomerang Mystery: Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators’. The story follows junior private investigators, 10-year-old Harry and his three friends, Stan and identical twins Polly and Lily, in their crime-busting investigations and is a 'starter chapter' book for good readers aged 7 years upwards.
A NOVEL IDEA
I asked John what the book is about.
“The Jay-Pea-Eyes have an unusual mystery to solve for their first case,” he said. “Children go missing and police have organised a massive search of Dudleigh town. A phone call from a security officer at Russington Hospital immediately has police heading for the Accident & Emergency Department.”
The plot thickens as the missing children mysteriously return to the hospital. No-one saw or heard anything.
“It’s as though the children fell from the sky,” John added. “The doctor is puzzled; the children are in excellent health but are refusing to talk to anyone, not even their own parents.Local detectives are baffled. Where have they been? What have they been doing? Why won't they talk? All questions the police want answered. Urgently.
“When Harry’s sister goes missing, the friends take it on themselves to investigate. They are determined to solve the mystery once and for all. The big question is: will they solve the mystery before the police?”
‘The Boomerang Mystery: Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators’ story is the kind that I devoured as a youngster. I asked John where he got the idea for his detective story from. And it turns out, the answer is quite elementary - right on his doorstep in Dudley, in the West Midlands, where he grew up and went on many adventures with his friends.
He said, “When I was about eight years of age, I used to hang out with a group of my school friends. There was a large field that we sneaked through to get to another main road. We would crouch down to avoid being seen by the farmer. On one side was a tunnel that everyone called the fairy tunnel because older brothers and sisters said fairies lived inside. We knew that this tunnel used to link a large rail track to the coalmines in the area.
“The entire area was very heavily mined and tunnel cave-ins and 'undergound' fires were quite common. I often wondered about the tunnels and whether or not you could get inside one and where it would take you.”
The farmer's field is long gone and a big hospital stands in its place, but John’s mind often went back to the exploring he did as a youngster.
AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES
“I often wondered if the fairy tunnel had been blocked properly and if there were any tunnels beneath it that could still lead to different areas in the town?” he said. “What if people already used these tunnels? Why would they use them? What kind of story could link these tunnels with the hospital?
“I thought of a group of friends who might investigate some strange goings on in the area.”
He decided to call them Junior Private Investigators but then needed a shortened version for them to use and that’show the Jay-Pea-Eyes were born.
'The Boomerang Mystery: Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators' can be bought as an ebook on:
AMAZON
ITUNES
SMASHWORDS
BARNES & NOBLE
and paperback:
HERE
Other books by John on sale on Amazon are:
Peter Challenge - Time Surfer, a fantasy book for children aged 7-10yrs.
Little Miss Straight Tail - a bedtime story all about farm animal friendship. Miss Straight Tail is a piglet born with a straight tail. Will it ever be curly?
He said, “When I was about eight years of age, I used to hang out with a group of my school friends. There was a large field that we sneaked through to get to another main road. We would crouch down to avoid being seen by the farmer. On one side was a tunnel that everyone called the fairy tunnel because older brothers and sisters said fairies lived inside. We knew that this tunnel used to link a large rail track to the coalmines in the area.
“The entire area was very heavily mined and tunnel cave-ins and 'undergound' fires were quite common. I often wondered about the tunnels and whether or not you could get inside one and where it would take you.”
The farmer's field is long gone and a big hospital stands in its place, but John’s mind often went back to the exploring he did as a youngster.
AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES
“I often wondered if the fairy tunnel had been blocked properly and if there were any tunnels beneath it that could still lead to different areas in the town?” he said. “What if people already used these tunnels? Why would they use them? What kind of story could link these tunnels with the hospital?
“I thought of a group of friends who might investigate some strange goings on in the area.”
He decided to call them Junior Private Investigators but then needed a shortened version for them to use and that’show the Jay-Pea-Eyes were born.
'The Boomerang Mystery: Jay-Pea-Eyes aka Junior Private Investigators' can be bought as an ebook on:
AMAZON
ITUNES
SMASHWORDS
BARNES & NOBLE
and paperback:
HERE
Other books by John on sale on Amazon are:
Peter Challenge - Time Surfer, a fantasy book for children aged 7-10yrs.
Little Miss Straight Tail - a bedtime story all about farm animal friendship. Miss Straight Tail is a piglet born with a straight tail. Will it ever be curly?
Bye for now. But wherever you are on your Earth Walk, always try to Reach For The Stars.
You'll be surprised just what you can achieve!
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