Conrad Jones

Hello all. I am Conrad Jones, I hope you’re all healthy and making the best of this terrible situation. I’m an author and write gritty crime thrillers, set on Anglesey.

When I left school, I worked as a market trader working from my home on Porth-y-felin Road, Holyhead. I traded along the North wales in the days when markets were very busy. Llangefni, used to be impossible to get onto in the 80’s and the markets at Abergele and Mostyn were some of the biggest in the country. I worked along the coast selling sportswear before starting a career as a trainee manger with McDonalds Restaurants in Wrexham in 1989. I worked in management at McDonalds Restaurants Ltd from 1989-2002, working my way up to Business Consultant (area manager) working in the corporate and franchised departments.

In March 1993 I was managing the Restaurant in Warrington`s Bridge St when two Irish Republican Army bombs exploded directly outside the store, resulting in the death of two young boys and many casualties. Along with hundreds of other people there that day I was deeply affected by the attack, which led to a long-term interest in the motivation and mind set of criminal gangs. I began to read anything crime related that I could get my hands on.

I link this experience with the desire to write books on the subject, which came much later due to an unusual set of circumstances. Because of that experience my early novels follow the adventures of an elite counter terrorist unit, The Terrorist Task Force, and their leader, John Tankersley, or `Tank`and they are the Soft Target Series, which have been described by a reviewer as ‘Reacher on steroids’.

I had no intentions of writing until 2007, when I set off on an 11-week tour of the USA. The day before I boarded the plane, Madeleine Mcann disappeared and all through the holiday I followed the American news reports which had little or no information about her. I didn’t realise it at the time, but that terrible incident would inspire my bestselling book, The Child Taker years later. During that trip I received news that my house had been burgled and my work van and equipment were stolen. That summer was the year when York and Tewkesbury were flooded by a deluge and insurance companies were swamped with claims. They informed me that they couldn’t do anything for weeks and that returning home would be a wasted journey.

Rendered unemployed on a beach in Clearwater, Florida, my partner at the time asked me what I was going to do. I had no idea what I was going to do. She said, ‘Why don’t you write a book. You’ve been moaning all week about how crap the book you’re reading is. So, write one yourself and see if you can do better.’

I got up off my sunbed and crossed the road to a little newsagent and bought a pen and a Captain Invincible notebook and I started to my first book, Soft Target that afternoon. I have never stopped writing since. I have recently completed my 25th novel, Circus of Nightmares, something that never would have happened but for that burglary and my experiences in Warrington. In 2019 I reached the 3 million downloads milestone. I am currently writing book number 26, which is the 9^th in The Anglesey Murders Series. I love to write about Anglesey and North Wales in my novels. I moved back to Trearddur Bay and had a flat in Plas Darian, next to the old Cliff Hotel behind the iconic house, Craig-y-mor. My Mum was elderly and lived of Turkey Shore Road in Holyhead.

If you have read this far, thank you very much and I look forward to interacting on the forum. I hope you all stay safe through this troubled time and your loved ones remain happy and healthy. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

The Detective Alec Ramsay Series

The Child Taker
Slow Burn
Criminally Insane
Frozen Betrayal
Concrete Evidence
Desolate Sands
Three

The Inspector Braddick Books (follows on from Ramsay)

Brick
Shadows
Guilty
Deliver us from Evil

The Anglesey Murders (runs alongside Braddick)

Unholy Island
A Visit from the Devil
Nearly Dead
A Child from the Devil
Dark Angel
What Happened to Rachel?
Good, Bad and Pure Evil
Circus of Nightmares

Soft Target Series (feature Tank from The Child Taker)

Soft Target
Tank
Jerusalem
18th Brigade
Blister
The Journey