Join me on Saturday at 2pm for more Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM. This week, I’ll be welcoming the lovely Al Ramsay, author of the Felix Haythornthwaite Files series, to the show.

When not in hiding in an undisclosed location, somewhere on the West Pennine Moors, Al lives with his wife, Louise, in the beautiful Lancashire market town of Chorley. Until the recent call of the pipe and slippers, he worked for a national housing association, helping build affordable homes across the north of England. His career objective was to solve the UK housing crisis, and in this he failed. Some say he may even have made things worse – although that never stopped him from trying. Travelling all too frequently by train between Wigan and ‘That London’ as part of his job, the Felix Haythornthwaite Files series (The Decoy, The Free Lunch, and the yet to be published Underground) was conceived during lengthy down-time on board the Virgin Trains Pendolino fleet (‘quiet carriage’ A), the creative process fuelled by way too many bacon rolls. Lockdown provided the ideal opportunity for editing these Lancashire-based conspiracy capers, and a welcome distraction from battling a severe fungal toenail infection.

Al now spends his time riding his bike, writing and getting mildly disheartened (and on occasion, overly excited) by the travails of his three favourite football teams, Everton, Leyton Orient and, of course, Chorley. He’s a member of the Chorley Writers’ group and a regular contributor to the town’s literary festival, ‘What’s Your Story Chorley?’, where his poems about Lancashire’s premier market town have featured for many years. Al’s ambition is to appear in Lancashire Life.

I’ll be talking to Al about the Felix Haythornthwaite Files, and about writing in general. And, of course, he’ll be sharing his selections for this week’s Apocalypse Books.

Catch the show on Saturday at 2pm on 106.6FM (if you’re in the North Manchester area) or listen online (if you’re further afield).