Mike Scantlebury

• Mar-2026
• 

• Dec-2025
• 

• Oct-2025
• 

Worried about the computers taking over? Don't worry, it's already happened.So says Terry, and he should know - he's the computer expert in The Unit, and good friend to Melia.That doesn't mean he's going to let it happen. Terry can see that Melia is ...

• Sep-2024
• 

Again! So rarely Mickey gets a paid job these days. Yet again, he's being asked to do a favour for a friend. But it is an old comrade from Mickey's days in the Army, and it is such a silly ask - to get young Billy to a meeting in the east of Sal...

• Aug-2024
• 

Mickey is forced to help an old friend, a pal from his Army days. But the young man is in a wheelchair. Getting Billy Budman to where he wants to go is one thing, but losing him to kidnappers is something worse. Mickey is asked by his old boss, Capta...

• Jun-2024
• 

Great Britain is transfixed by the latest disaster in national political life - the fourth General Election in a decade! This time the stakes are the highest ever, with parties polarised and extremists on very side. No more so that right-winger ...

• Feb-2024
• 

Mickey's life has changed. It's Good News and Bad News. The Good News is that he can take a rest from international espionage and move into the relatively relaxing world of high finance and property based business. The Bad News is that he's still in ...

• Dec-2023
• 

Amelia Hartliss, known to her friends as 'Melia' and her enemies as 'Heartless', is not enjoying the pandemic or lockdown. She is finding her life is being threatended, and those who seem like old friends are turning out to be not as helpful as she a...

• Dec-2023
• 

It's not many 'Mickey from Manchester' thriller detective novels that have Mickey flat on his back from Chapter 3. Worse, he is in shock. and doesn't even remember his name.Meanwhile his girlfriend Melia is staying at his house, recovering from a ter...

• Dec-2023
• 

Captain Gibson is facing huge political pressure to show his Unit is working to discourage illegal asylum seekers from coming to Britian in small, dangerous boats. He sends his top spy (Amelia Hartliss, or 'Melia') to the South Coast to infiltrate a ...

• Nov-2023
• 

Amelia Hartliss, Special Agent - Melia to her friends and 'Heartless' to her enemies - is always landing the worst of jobs. Right now, she's been given the task of baby-sitting a candidate in the local government elections. The problem is, that of al...

• Oct-2023
• 

Mickey is recovering from the trauma of finding his father murdered. It's not that they every got along, but Mickey feels he now has an obiligation to find the murderer, right wrongs and return peace to his city. The killing is a dreadful distraction...

• Sep-2023
• 

Mickey is back in Britain after his harrowing trip to Rwanda. He doesn't expect to be arrested, but in confinement he is reunited with an old friend from his Army days. Her name is Ripley and after escaping, the pair are surprised to be instructed by...

• Jul-2023
• 

Amelia Hartliss is angry. She is a Secret Agent and a skilled investigator, but her boss has chosen to send her on a routine surveillance operation, looking for imported drugs. It's way below my pay grade, she sighs. But she's wrong. The source of th...

• May-2023
• 

Mickey is fighting mad. Someone pushed him into the river and he nearly drowned. Once he got out, his first priority is to find the guilty party, even if it means travelling four thousand miles from his home in Salford, England to the heart of Africa...

• May-2019
• 

1997 was a bad year for Britain. The most loved woman in the land died in a tragic car accident in Paris. Her name was Princess Diana and few people have never forgotten her. So what can Mickey do, twenty years later, when faced with a man who claims...

• Apr-2019
• 

Melia McLean is a humble taxi driver, (or so she seems, this week). She is asked to ferry around a researcher from Salford University (or so he pretends to be), called Mort. They are going to see 'The Guvnor', a desperate criminal in the prison up on...

• Apr-2019
• 

Amelia Hartliss is out in the field, battling against terrorists and trying to capture her nemisis, the gun runner Emil Gorange. Unfortunately, her efforts have cost her dearly. She has been captured, beaten up and now faces certain death. Desperate,...

• Apr-2019
• 

Ellen is the only one of the Farley Family that has a clear idea what she wants to do in  life. She has started a career in Recruitment, but it isn't going so well. She has an unsympathetic boss. Maybe she needs a new one. When a handsome young ...

• Apr-2019
• 

Melia is out in the field again, undercover. This time, Amelia Hartliss is pretending to be Lonxa Doherty, the massage lady, expert in damage to muscles and joints. Using this persona, she is able to gain access to the office of Bronston Dernier, the...

• Nov-2018
• 

Not another Election! The Prime Minister of Britain has called yet another General Election in the middle of 2017, less than two years since the last one. Mickey is summoned into action to defend candidates and preserve democracy, but where is his us...

• Sep-2018
• 

People all over Britain are thinking about the First World War, the peril and the sacrifice, and how it started in 1914. The story was all about how a very important person from a very important country came to visit a small, unimportant place and go...

• Aug-2018
• 

Vlad Hugg is a new pop idol. He looks good, sounds good, and writes his own songs. Young girls love him. Boys want to be him. The sales of acoustic guitars have shot up. Why, it looks so simple. Just write a few catchy songs, strum your guitar and yo...

• Aug-2018
• 

Gold is on everyone's mind, the millions in value represented by a haul of gold bars, that disappeared from Salford's docks in 1966. It seems a lifetime ago, but people are remembering former times, inspired by a local project run by the BBC, called ...

• Aug-2018
• 

Salford in England has been a city since 1270, but it has never elected a Mayor before, not until now. The town has been transfixed by the sight of numerous hopefuls falling over themselves to put their names forward and sieze the prestigious - and w...

• Aug-2018
• 

The people of Britain must make a momentous, yes an historic, decision. They are being allowed to decide whether the country should remain as part of the European Community, or should cut off its border at the English Channel and become independent. ...

• Aug-2018
• 

The city of Salford is transfixed by the prospect of a huge Festival, of arts, music, dance and poetry. The residents are coming together to celebrate the life of Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote the superb children's story, 'The Secret Garden'. So...

• Jul-2018
• 

It's only an old church, isn't it? Well, No, the Church of England has abandoned the old building and taken it out of commission. Even though it was designed by one of the foremost Victorian architects, they'd be happy to see it rot, or, perhaps, tur...

• Jul-2018
• 

Who wants healthy, clean, renewable power in Britain? Not the government. They want to re-start a stalled programme of rebuilding nuclear power stations. Curiously, some residents are out to stop them. Poor secret agent Mickey finds himself caught in...

• Jun-2018
• 

Mickey finds himself drawn into the centre of an unexpected and unwelcome investigation. Manchester's foremost and most famous entrepreneur is under threat, and, with him, the future of the city's bid for the Olympic Games is in doubt. Who is behind ...

• May-2018
• 

It's so simple. Everyone in England wants to own their own house. Why, they'd practically kill for it! Mickey, scouting the dark alleys of South Central Salford for an elusive quarry, The Mandley Park Molester, is dragged into an investigation of dec...

• May-2018
• 

It's a busy year. Mickey is called in to help an old friend, but he's hardly got started when he gets another commission. And another. What's going on? Is it all because the BBC has decided to move its North of England headquarters to Salford Quays, ...

• Feb-2018
• 

Britain has elections too. In the summer of 2017 the people of North West England have the chance to elect a Metro Mayor for the county of Greater Manchester. It's never happened before, and it's all part of the British government's plan to give powe...

• Feb-2017
• 

The menacing woods of Grizzly Falls, Montana, are not for the faint of heart. But for some, they’re the perfect setting for partying and pranks. They don’t know there’s a rapt audience amid the tangled trees, a killer with a different kind of g...

• Dec-2016
• 

Britain is in the grip of election fever. A new government has to be elected, and Members of Parliament will be chosen and will go to Westminster to rule the land. Meanwhile, in the North West of England, in Salford, someone is trying to kill their n...

• Dec-2016
• 

Mickey doesn't like making mistakes, but one day he does. It's a big one, and it costs a man's life. He can't live with that, and sets out to avenge the victim and bring the murderer to justice, even if it is the largest food and chemical conglomerat...

• Dec-2016
• 

Who could have guessed that British Security would be sending for someone from Australia to come and help them sort out their systems? But this is Mickey's problem. Melia has something far worse to deal with: an old friend has been sent to prison for...

• Dec-2015
• 

Melia is asked to work undercover. It's uncomfortable. For one thing, she has to live in a tent, in the middle of the windswept and desolate Barton Moss, an area of countryside unexpectedly found in the middle of the City of Salford. Gratifyingly for...

• Aug-2014
• 

For over four hundred years, Salford has had the benefit of one of its sons being a wonderful benefactor, leaving his massive inheritance to improve the lives and conditions of the people who live in this lucky city. But now that all seems under thre...

• Aug-2013
• 

2012 was a great year, and the 'Secret Garden Festival' was a wonderful success, involving the whole community. 2013 was meant to be even better. Instead, nothing happened. Nothing. A complete waste of time. No Festival. No fun. No community. It seem...

• Dec-2012
• 

Amelia Hartliss is a secret agent who doesn't have to like the jobs she's given, or the people she has to deal with. But when she's required to act as bodyguard to the most hateful man in England, the Editor of the worst, most destestable and gutter ...

• Dec-2012
• 

Amelia Hartliss is working her home town, Manchester, in the north of England, pretending to be a postgrad student, attached to Salford University. She is undercover, looking for links between the academic staff, local business and international t...

• Dec-2012
• 

Prince William of England, second in line to the throne, is asked by his grandmother to represent her at the Olympic events happening in the North of England in 2012. The Prince is pleased at the request, appearing in public as the Queen's representa...

• Jun-2012
• 

Some people think that the only future for the planet Earth is if someone invents a way to use nuclear fusion - not fission, as we do now - to make electricity. What if somebody did? Would they be greeted as a hero, or as a revolutionary trouble-make...

• Aug-2011
• 

The World War has come and gone. There is huge damage but real peace. Now the world is divided into three great empires, and the Emperors have gathered to choose the new World President and acknowledge the old one is retiring. There isn't a wide sele...

• Mar-2011
• 

Mickey and the team are called in to another adventure, but this time it's weird. There's a ship that's been wrecked in the Bristol Channel, but it's two thousand years old and the jars it was carrying hold secrets, vital secrets that could threaten ...

• Feb-2008
• 

Manchester, England, home of the Industrial Revolution and centre of the 19th century, struggling to make it into the 20th century. City leaders concoct a plan to bid for the Olympic Games. It's a last throw of the dice....

• Apr-2007
• 

It is not far in the future, but the world has changed out of all recognition.The climate has changed and the warming means that wild animals have moved from the equator into the northern climes. Humanity has had to retreat to Protected Settlements a...

Mickey is happy that both he and all the rest of his team are rescued from a hostage situation before they can be blown to bits by eco-terrorist Ian Bann, but are then less than ecstatic to find that the bombing campaign which is terrifying Mancheste...

Manchester may be the Queen of all cities in the north of England, but it's down on its luck and starting to show its age. The place failed to get any traction in its efforts to become the site of the next Olympic Games and jobs and industry are bein...

Mickey is thinking that he really needs to stop helping people. It only gets him in trouble! This time, while assisting his old friend Nick in attending a business meeting, Nick goes berserk and someone dies. Mickey is stunned, but left to pick up th...

Melia is facing yet another change of boss. Somehow the governments doesn't seem happy unless they're shaking up British Security Services and making the agents uncomfortable and insecure. Captain Gibson isn't around. Some say he has been sent for 'r...

Please Note: this is Part Two of a trilogy, but it can be read as a Stand-Alone Thriller, with a female protagonist.Terry the computer technician, from Melia's Unit in British Security, has taken it on himself to organise the digs to look for Jimmy B...

Amelia is getting pretty tired of all these people who are trying to kill her. It's not just the paid assassins anymore, but the threats seem to be coming from inside her own organisation! Who can she trust? Certainly, not the Deputy Director. A long...

Mickey has got himself into a precarious position and needs to be rescued. Meanwhile his freind Don is still suspended from the police force and being investigated for money laundering. Don's fiancee is having problems at the University where she wor...

England is a country obsessed by housing. Some people want to buy houses, some want to sell them. Everyone wants to make a profit, build up capital and, probably, create a pile of money they can retire on. Hopefully, too, leave to their offspring. In...

Mickey is badly hurt. He was attacked by a gang of thugs on Christmas Eve and he stood no chance. If he hadn't been rescued - but he was, dragged off the pavement by a woman he hardly knew, taken into her tenth-floor apartment and looked after while ...

Melia is in love again, but this is neither the time nor the place. She is working undercover in a terrorist organisation, a covert group that is holding the Western World to ransom. They are dangerous, uncaring people, but Melia finds herself fallin...

Lucey is distraught. Her sister Shanna has been jilted, but the whole Farley family has chipped in to help pay for the wedding, the Reception and honeymoon. They can't afford to let that money go to waste. So they have asked Lucey, the sensible ...

Salford Lads Club is one of the most famous venues in the whole of the north of England. People come from all over the world to stand in front of it, and all in honour of a band called 'The Smiths' from the 1980s and its charismatic singer, Morr...

Mickey is back in Britain after his harrowing trip to Rwanda. He doesn't expect to be arrested, but in confinement he is reunited with an old friend from his Army days. Her name is Ripley and after escaping, the pair are surprised to be instructed by...

Mickey is a bit too old to appreciate modern pop music, but he gets dragged into this strange new world because of a link to a former colleague in the Security Services. His pal Eddie is now the Manager of a dynamic combo which is rapidly becoming th...

Mickey should have known better than to get involved with one of the most ancient and secretive Secret Societies in Britain, but he is under orders from his boss, Captain Gibson, to attend a Swearing-In ceremony for his friend Neil, who is, in fact, ...

Melia is confused. So many people are trying to kill her. But why? After all, the first killer she met, while mindlessly climbing the back stairs into her office, was saying that she wanted to target her friend, Terry. But later, she found out that t...

Mickey is a Secret Agent and used to living a 'double life'. For his new assignment, he's working 'triple'. He's pretending to be a lecturer in a prestigious college in Manchester, England, but the story he tells his superiors - which allows him to w...

It is not too far in the future and some things have worked out as expected - in particular, Renewable Energy is now the main source of power. Whether solar panels, wind turbines, wave power, it's all commonplace and available, and to make it less ob...

Melia doesn't understand. Mickey is trying to explain where he's been and what he's been up to, but it makes no sense to her. They are both secret agents. Why would the police call Mickey in to meet a couple of teenagers on the run from Care Homes? T...

Mickey has few people in his life he can truly call a 'friend', so, when one of them is killed, he takes it personally. Especially as Kevin died in the most bizarre of circumstances - a plane crash in the middle of Manchester, right in front of the c...