The Parakeet Murder
Harriet Cross is Newcastle’s finest private investigator. Or at least she would be if she could find decent cases to work on.
Harriet is intrigued when a charming new client, Howard Lewis, arrives at her office a few days before Christmas in 1983 and asks Harriet to locate a missing person.
Twenty years earlier, a witness to a shooting at the exclusive Parakeet Club vanished without a trace.
As the anniversary of the murder approaches, the client is desperate to uncover who murdered his brother.
At home, Harriet is juggling the sudden reappearance of her ex-husband and her ambition of becoming a magician.
Harriet’s private life is pushed aside as she becomes increasingly involved in the search for the missing woman, but after twenty years, has she disappeared for good?
Harriet is drawn into a world of nightclubs and criminals, but is there more to the case than merely finding the missing witness?
The Parakeet murder is the first of a series featuring Privat Eye Harriet Cross.
The Parakeet Murder is coming in the Summer 2025
David Wardhaugh
I was a civil servant for forty-five years before retiring at the end of 2020. Confined to my home during the pandemic, I finally had the time to pursue a lifelong passion for writing.
The story behind my first book, Finding the Past, had been running around in my mind for several years.
There are four books featuring Adam Turner.
The Parakeet Murder is the first of a new series featuring Private Investigator Harriet Cross is due to be published in Summer 2025.
I write most days and try to visit the gym at least three times a week, but I'm slightly more successful in finding cafés for coffee and cake.
I live in Gateshead on the banks of the River Tyne with my partner, Mark. I have a sister living in Wales.
Picture of the Past
Kristallnacht, Berlin 1938.
Ariel Levine has urgent business as he hurries through the perilous city streets. He has delivered his precious cargo and only hopes to return home safely.
Newcastle Upon Tyne, 1983.
After more than a decade away, Adam Turner is back in the northeast. A few months after settling into his new life, he takes a holiday to Spain, where he meets the enigmatic yet charming Leon Zenger.
Leon possesses extraordinary artistic talent. His replicas of masterpieces have made him a wealthy man and drawn him into a dangerous world. Adam settles in Spain, but Leon’s frequent disappearances are raising doubts in Adam’s mind. Spending a day alone, Adam meets a stranger in a bar who is searching for Leon. This marks the beginning of a series of events that will see Adam racing across Spain, back home to Newcastle, and ultimately to murder.
Gateshead, 2017.
Cal Devane is living a quiet life until an unexpected visitor seeking his help draws him back into the past.
Adam and Cal have a secret to uncover. Will it prove to be one secret too many for Adam?
This is the fourth in the Adam Turner series of novels.
Echoes of the Past
Gateshead 1967.
Evelyn Young is a retired schoolteacher who spends her days quietly pottering around town and having lunch with friends.
Lydia Eves is a retired nurse and dedicates her time to painting. The two women met during the war and became firm friends.
Who would be interested in two such unassuming women? However, someone in the community has been watching Lydia for quite some time and is eager to uncover the secrets she has endeavoured to keep buried.
A mystery from Lydia’s time in Switzerland is on the verge of reemerging, bringing danger to the two friends.
Adam Turner manages the local artist drop-in centre, and his friendship with Lydia is about to be put to the test following the murder of a local resident.
Gateshead, 2017.
Callum Devane lives fifty years in the future and is unaware that he is about to receive a visit from Adam Turner, who will take him on a journey back into the past.
Together, they will work to unravel a mystery that has troubled Lydia for decades.
This is the third in the Adam Turner series of novels.
Double Lives
Christmas 1915.
Henry was home on leave, about to propose to Sarah. He disappears after an encounter with a stranger leads to a confrontation with the police, and a house fire on Christmas Eve brings tragedy to Gateshead.
Gateshead 1965.
Adam Turner is determined to keep his relationship with Ethan a secret. The sixties are an uncomfortable time for two men living together. When an unwelcome face from Adam’s past arrives with blackmail in mind, he fears his life is about to come crashing down.
The previous year, Adam met Callum Devane, a man from the future, and together they solved the murder of a friend. With no one else to turn to for help, he seeks out his former ally.
Gateshead 2015.
Callum Devane has left his experience of time travel behind and is content to remain safe in the present. But when Adam asks for his help, he can’t turn him down and reluctantly returns to the past.
When a stolen necklace leads to the murder of a popular resident, Adam finds himself caught up in more than just blackmail.
Adam must solve the recent murder and uncover the events of Christmas 1915 before the victim finds peace and a long-held secret is revealed.
The second in the Adam Turner series of novels.
Finding the Past
Gateshead 2014.
Cal Devane is nearing fifty and planning to spend Christmas alone. Days before the holiday, a once-in-a-generation lightning storm transports him to 1960s Tyneside.
Gateshead 1964.
Lily Spencer spends her days in her wool shop on Gateshead’s Wellington Street. She makes final preparations for Christmas in 1964 when she encounters a stranger from the future. Next door at the artist’s drop-in centre, Adam Turner is a man with secrets that could land him in jail, and he will do anything to keep them hidden.
Southern England 1922
George Albertson has an enigmatic encounter with Kitty Taylor. What is the connection to a sudden death almost fifty years later in Gateshead?
Cal finds himself drawn deeper into the lives of the people from the past. When a resident dies in a tragic accident, it soon becomes clear that it was murder. But who would want to kill such a popular person with no apparent enemies? Cal joins forces with Adam, and they uncover a more personal secret for Cal than he could ever imagine. More shocking than travelling back in time, he discovers that, with murder, the dead don’t always die.
Finding the Past is the first in a series featuring Adam Turner.
Return to the Past coming in 2026
Wellington Street Gateshead today
Adam Turner Books
The characters in the Adam Turner novels are fictional, but mostly the places in Gateshead and Newcastle are real and some still exist.
I have tried to describe the locations as I recall them from the sixties. But I was only a child then, so I might not remember them exactly as they were. One or two places only exist in my imagination, but are there to help the story.
The places outside of the northeast are as I imagine them to have been in the past. Any errors are mine, the novels are stories, so I hope to be forgiven for any mistakes.