F L Publications

Billy Helston  Bloodlust A sensuous vampire tale set in London during the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. Master George returns home suddenly from a European tour suffering from an unspecified illness. He retreats to his bedroom with the curtains drawn against the daylight. But the infection spreads among the servants: first Eliza, then William . . . and in Whitechapel, women are being feasted upon and drained of their blood . . . A decadent blend of myth, Gothic horror, and voluptuous, supernatural fantasy.

Billy Helston Long Arm of the Law Jack the Ripper isn’t famous, rich, or royal, but he played a crucial role on the night of the double event. My suspect is an ordinary man, yet he both frightens and threatens the Metropolitan police to this day. They accused him of perjury, some called him a liar, others a fool. But he lived to a ripe old age and evaded the hangman’s noose. In short, he got away with murder. The files on The Jack the Ripper case will remain sealed to protect witnesses one-hundred and thirty years after the Whitechapel murders! ‘Helston portrays the lives of the murdered women, so often portrayed as victims devoid of personality and mere bit-part players in the drama that is Jack the ripper, with sensitivity and humour.’ ‘A brush with the law. Ha, ha.’

Billy Helston Mercedes Marie Mary Jane Kelly, youngest victim of Jack the Ripper, sustained a murderous assault so horrific her lover could only identify her by her hair and eyes. She travelled from Ireland, to Wales and France. She lived in the West End of London, wore gowns of embroidered silk, and rode in fine carriages. Jack the Ripper ended her life in a squalid room, in the meanest street, in the most overcrowded, and deprived borough of London – Whitechapel. This is the Mary Kelly story.

Billy Helston Purgatory Matthew’s solemn pledge is to rid the world of the infernal necromancers’ infestation. The witchfinder struggles to achieve his life's ambition. She has bewitched him. Cast a spell that killed his wife and sucked life’s breath from his son. Elspeth’s beauty melts before the mob’s gaze as if she were a fragrant candle. Elspeth rises on the heat from the pyre and tumbles to Earth from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. Louis, Elspeth's soul mate, holds the key to the gates of heaven. Not all may climb the silver stair to paradise. Loosely based on ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ with David Niven. ‘A deliciously dark fairytale, brimming with humour as black as a witches’ cat.’

Pompeia Lil Hope Street From 1897 until the outbreak of WW2, May Miller wrote a diary. Recipes, flower arrangements, homemade cosmetics, lovers, friends, family and enemies, jostle with gossip and told with saucy, black humour.  This is her story.  May left home to work as a maid in a big house on the hill, looking down on Portsea. Intelligent, handsome, and ambitious, she achieved her plans only through a series of mishaps. Serendipity forces May to seize any and every opportunity. She’s a fighter. What would have cast many in similar positions to abandon hope, May battles to save herself and her family from poverty and the looming workhouse. May wins that battle. Now she wants more than just freedom from poverty. She wants the security of wealth. Never again would she accept a vulnerable position. If she lost, she had no one to blame but herself – and that baggage Emily Babcock . . .

Pompeia Lil  Chance Street Just as she thought her life and luck had changed, she discovered she was with child. May had to make the best of her limited choices. She wouldn’t give up her child. One way or the other, she would do more than survive, she would thrive – somehow. George Spritely’s sudden death left the young widow, Susannah Spritely, mistress of Fairview House, and his mother, close to a nervous breakdown. George died of Arsenic poisoning. George’s doctor prescribed Savarsan, a new drug for the treatment of syphilis. His doctor omitted to tell George Savarsan contained arsenic. But why should the good doctor tell his patient such detail? The amounts of arsenic in Susannah’s fly juice punishments were small, just enough to cause discomfort. The Savarsan medication was safe, at the prescribed dose. It was unfortunate George didn’t understand he’d such a bad wife. The Spritelys lived on Portsmouth Hill and looked down on Portsea and its inhabitants – May Miller lived in Portsea and worked for the Spritelys as did her father, and his father before him.  Two families’ lives entangled for good and ill.

Pompeia Lil Unicorn Road Charlie is a workhouse kid. Well, he spent a couple of weeks in that Portsea institution. He couldn’t stand the regulations and absconded. The gang live by the same rules – Charlie's. Mr Price to you, or as he now likes to be called, Sir. He's charming, handsome, rich, and powerful – bloody ruthless. He is a rule unto himself. He named his daughter Queenie – after all, she is Pompey royalty. He runs his borough with ruthless efficiency. Charlie Price has two sides. Nice and loyal or mean and nasty. You choose which side you are on. Lil chose. She fell in love with him – silly cow.

	Pompeia Lil The Hard The gang live by the same rules – Charlie's. Mr Price to you, or as he now likes to be called, Sir. He's charming, handsome, rich, and powerful – bloody ruthless. There is only one outcome when his wife, Lillian, has an affair with a rival criminal gang member. Or is there? Edwardian Portsea’s villains control their borough with ruthless efficiency.

	Pompeia Lil Consort Common, plain, and poor, Cindy uses her creative talents to create her masterpiece – herself. She receives an invitation that will change her life forever. Cindy’s on the rise. The spare heir to the throne is a passionate collector of her pieces. A humorous, contemporary, Cinderella story ...