John Carson

Four years ago, FBI Special Agent Scott Marshall and his team were hunting a serial killer in a small town in Upstate New York. Women were being abducted and murdered, then their corpses were displayed in open shallow graves. Marshall's FBI partner, Jessie Kent, was taken. During the hunt for her, Marshall tracked the killer down, but he was shot five times and left for dead. Less than an hour later, the killer took his own life. None of the remaining victims were ever found. Until now. A female detective comes down to Marshall's home town to ask for his help. Somebody has found the decomposed victims and is displaying them. Despite no longer being with the FBI, Marshall sees this as a chance to find Jessie, and take her home for a proper burial. And to lay to rest the feelings of guilt he's been carrying for the past four years. He agrees to go back with Dani Fox, but it's soon clear somebody doesn't want him back in town. He's warned off, but he ignores it. Then the killings start. Somebody has just accelerated the game from displaying corpses to adding new victims. And this time, he's making it personal...

Years ago, DI Frank Miller caught a notorious serial killer and put him away for life. This man taunts Miller from the psychiatric hospital where he's incarcerated. He tells Miller he'll see him soon. Now he's escaped and he wants Miller to play a game to find a victim they didn't know about. Senior officers know the killer had help in escaping, and as an investigation is launched, suspicion falls on Miller. He's then suspended from duty. Disobeying orders to stay off the case, he follows a clue he's been given, but he's attacked and left for dead. Then things escalate out of control. A warrant is issued for Miller's arrest and now he's on the run, being hunted by colleagues. Miller knows he is on his own now, and time is running out, but help comes from an unexpected source. Together, they work to uncover the truth, but one man will do anything to make sure they die before that happens...

The body of 10 year-old kidnap victim Terry White is found in a derelict house, three years after his disappearance. This is a second chance for DI Frank Miller, whose detective wife was killed when the ransom drop went bad. There's a vicious gang of armed thieves who have been robbing banks in Edinburgh and their violence has escalated to murder. As Miller and his team investigate, they find a link between Terry's kidnapping and the robberies. Two members of the gang are now dead, leaving behind clues that the gang are planning one last heist before going their separate ways. Miller only has a few days to catch them before they disappear forever...and with them, they'll take the key to solving Terry's murder...

While investigating the murder of a former detective, DI Frank Miller begins to see the connection between this and the murder of the head of Edinburgh's Serious Crime unit. As the investigation unfolds, a 25 year-old murder case is re-opened, and when Miller delves into the past, he finds that somebody had a secret that is costing people their lives. He also discovers the awful truth of who really killed his wife in a hit-and-run two years ago, and how his wife's killer is coming after him...

Since the age of eight sports has played a huge role in my life. I fell in love with the competition aspect of football and baseball during recess at Flagpole School and playing baseball on my Dad's farm. We worked very hard on the farm, however, I was always watching the clouds in hopes it would rain so we could start a baseball game behind the cotton bends. This love of sports has followed me all my life. I always wanted to build my life and reputation around being a good student in school, working hard at every assignment and challenge my life encountered and being respected as a person of character and integrity. I enjoyed a wonderful high school and college sports tenure having played college football for three years at Ole Miss until my knee injury that I sustained in high school forced me to give up football. That was a very sad day for me in that I felt it was my first major failure in life and I did not like to fail at anything. Sports teach you to never give up on yourself or any mission you have set your sights upon to succeed in. Never start a new goal for your life that you are not willing to put your heart into to succeed. Sports always gave me a desire to be the best and practice, practice, practice until you were the best your talents would allow you to be. Sports also taught me to always be mindful to keep my body in shape and condition my body with daily and weekly workouts to be healthy and remain strong. I still go to my health club for 45 minute workouts 4-5 times a week. After having triple bypass heart surgery, my surgeon said the probable reason my surgery was a success was because my body was in good condition at the age of 80. I can truly say I have had four passions in my life, sports, my business career in the hotel and hospitality business, my three children and now my grandchildren. During my life time my Dad was a tremendous mentor for me to always respect the principles he built his life around and passed on to me. I can also say the coaches I had in the sports I was involved in had great influence on my life. My freshman coach at Ole Miss, Coach Wobble Davidson, was the person who inspired my life more so than anyone in coaching. He made you believe you could move mountains if you prepared yourself well enough. My coaches in high school and college probably prepared my life to take on the challenges that we all encounter as we mature into our working career. This is why kids should gain the benefits of sports and great coaching at the earliest possible age. Both will give any kid in America a foundation to build their life upon. I am so proud my grandkids are all involved in sports and gaining at an early age what sports can mean to their lives forever. John Carson, A Proud Father and Grandfather.

John Carson has been a railway enthusiast almost since birth, a hobby inherited from his father, Harold, whose interest in railways began way back in the early decades of the last century. In the 1930's, Harold became an Anglican clergyman and he found that the relaxation and solace he derived from "watching the trains go by" provided an ideal counterbalance to the stresses and strains of looking after a busy London parish. Many of his leisure hours were spent pursuing his hobby and the notes he made provide a fascinating insight into our railways when they were at their zenith and what it was like to be an enthusiast at a time of so much variety and interest. Despite the loss of many records and the vagaries or lack of certain details, John has endeavoured to reproduce the diaries as far as possible in their original form, not only for posterity but also as a tribute to his father who died in 1993.