The past has a way of coming back…

Sheila McKenna, an Australian social historian, is in the UK to research and write a book about the nineteenth-century transportation of convicts from Britain to Australia.

And when she buys a convict’s love token, in the form of an old, engraved copper penny, inspiration strikes.

Sheila decides to find out more about the ‘JS’ who gave the token to his loved one, and armed with the name of the ship that took him to Australia, she begins her research.

However, there was more than one convict with the initials JS aboard the Lucy Collins in 1865.

Sheila investigates each one.

Yet it soon becomes apparent that even more than a century later, somebody, somewhere, doesn’t want Sheila looking into their family history.

Undeterred, and with the help of her fiancé, lawyer Chris Tyroll, Sheila begins to piece together the lives, loves and legacies of six men, all transported on the Lucy Collins, and their families.

She works her way forwards through the generations, identifying, contacting and talking to some of those men’s descendants.

Meanwhile, the threats to Sheila’s safety keep coming, and grow ever more serious.

Over time, history and the modern age seem to intertwine.

Are the actions and inclinations of convicts in past generations still afflicting their descendants?

And if so, precisely who is going to such extraordinary – perhaps even murderous -lengths to hide it?

Bad Penny Blues is a suspense thriller filled with intrigue and forgotten memories.

Praise for Barrie Roberts

‘This book has a lot of spirit and is very enjoyable and well-informed read. It’s refreshingly different to what’s on offer elsewhere and I’m looking forward to future entries in what could well be a successful series.’ - Mat Coward, Morning Star.

Barrie Roberts has been a criminal lawyer for almost thirty years, working for two firms in the West Midlands including work on the appeals of the Birmingham Six. He is the author of four Sherlock Holmes books and previous Chris Tyroll mystery books, including The Victory Snapshot .