A former Worcester News and Sunday People journalist has unveiled a brand-new book set in Redditch.

Tony Bassett, who worked at the newspaper in the 1970s, has already released four other books based across Worcestershire and Warwickshire with his latest work, Heir to Murder, being published on December 4.

With scenes also set in Stratford-upon-Avon, the story takes readers on a crime journey where the younger son of a viscount is found lying in a pool of blood.

The rebellious son had created a host of enemies due to his love of loud music with his long-suffering neighbour the prime suspect after finding the body.

The police think they have an open and shut case, but dedicated Detective Sergeant Sunita Roy refuses to accept the obvious and vows to find the truth.

The mystery continues to unravel as the detective becomes obsessed with the fact that the victim’s older brother disappeared whilst hiking in Spain two years earlier.

Mr Bassett, who lives in South-East London with his partner Lin, said: “It seemed to me that the Worcestershire and Warwickshire area was the obvious place to set a series of novels as you have the beauty of the Malvern Hills and the Cotswolds, the charm of Worcester, Redditch and Stratford-upon-Avon, the picturesque country villages and the intrigue and fascination of Birmingham’s urban landscape.”

The father-of-five first developed a love of writing at the age of nine when he produced a magazine at his junior school in Sevenoaks, Kent.

A few years later, his local vicar in Tunbridge Well staged his play based on the story of Naboth’s Vineyard before the author went onto win Time-Life Magazine student journalist of the year at the University of Hull in 1971.

Heir to Murder has been published by The Book Folks, a London publisher specialising in crime fiction, and is available to buy as an e-book and on paperback through Amazon.

Other books in the series include Murder on Oxford Lane, The Crossbow Stalker, Murder of a Doctor and Out for Revenge.