Chris Graham (Chris can also be contacted on his Facebook page where latest news, articles, details of new books, excerpts from upcoming books, other earlier writings, and recommended work by other writers can all be found. Comments, and messages and questions for Chris, can be left and will be responded to quickly. https://www.facebook.com/Chris-Graham-1818190765075628/)Author Chris Graham spent his working life riding motorcycles and driving vans to earn a living, meeting many different types of people along the way, and seeing a whole load of different places while he was doing it. Today, he still rides and drives, but the riding is for fun when the weather is good and the driving is purely 'social, domestic and pleasure', as the insurance companies like to refer to it.From England's tranquil West Country, where he now lives, to the busy city streets, and of course the open road that was his companion for so long, Graham traversed the country, and beyond, delivering anything and everything from documents to diamonds, and even body parts, to people as varied as artists and ad men, musicians and actors, engineers, lawyers, fashion designers... people of all walks of life from tarts in massage parlours and professors in labs to members of the royal family... not to mention working as a despatch rider for TV camera crews at major events in the days before the digital age, when the tapes needed rushing off to catch the satellite link 'window' so that news hungry audiences in America got their pictures.All of these experiences and more, got shelved away, for future use in the writing that he'd always promised himself he would do one day. None of it would be wasted. With his eclectic interests ranging from food to fossils, from wine to wailing guitars, from surrealists to steam engines and beyond, he is never going to be short of subject matter.Now, at last, from his home in a small Wessex Village, he is weaving some of the more believable situations that he's encountered, along with the tales and experiences related to him by the people with whom he's worked and played, into his series of stories, the 'Lena's Friends' crime novels. Taking inspiration from that wide range of people that he's met, and has often counted as friends from right across the social spectrum, he gives us believable characters that we'd all like to meet... even some of the villains when they're behaving themselves... all of them living, working, and occasionally getting up to mischief, in a real world of real locations that he's stored away, from all of his travels, for future use and for our future entertainment.So get to know these characters. Get to like them. Even get to disagree with them. Most important of all though, enjoy meeting them and eavesdropping on the triumphs and misdemeanours of their lives... and occasionally on their deaths. ******************************************************************************  AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRIS GRAHAM'S: 'THE LENA’S FRIENDS’ STORIES'.Lena Fox BA. and her friends are not amateur detectives, at least not in the conventionally accepted way that is found in crime fiction. Many of the more usual fictional amateur sleuths do, by necessity, stretch the readers' belief a little too much by always having a convenient murder or similar serious crime dropped into their laps for them to investigate.It would seem that there are small villages and towns to be found all across the country, even all over the world, with each of them having their own, often eccentric, detective.All of these places appear to have murder rates that would rival New York on a busy day.Although Lena does live in a cottage in a small rural village, the large cities of Bristol and Bath are nearby, giving a large enough population for a criminal underworld to be found in, along with an environment in which they can carry out their crimes.Even so, these nominally West Country based criminals aren't averse to operating in other parts of the country, or even in mainland Europe and further afield, thus broadening the range of potential locations.Lena herself is a successful call girl, escort, or courtesan, though she's quite happy with the terms 'prostitute' or even 'tart'. She has no hang ups about her chosen career. She works at the high class, highly expensive, and by necessity, very discreet end of the business.She enjoys her work, and has done very well out of her well heeled clientèle, some of whom have become good friends. She does, however, care deeply about those working in the riskier, less glamorous, lower echelons of her trade.Lena and her various friends and acquaintances aren't really the detectives in these books. They're often not even the lead characters in the stories, but merely the common denominators.They provide a network of people and places that can become familiar to the reader. In fact the places may already be familiar to some, as they are all real locations that are given their real identities in most cases. This provides a believable world, if you like, for the regular police characters, and of course the criminal fraternity, to live and work in.One of these regular police characters is Steve Anderson, who also becomes a good friend of the beautiful red headed escort, BMW motorbike riding Lena, and her biker boyfriend Tony Birdham. (This occurs in the first full length novel, ‘Transactions.)Anderson starts off as a young beat constable and through the early books, he progresses to the heady heights of Detective Sergeant.He has a habit of discussing his work with his friends, when meeting them socially, often revealing details of a case that he's involved in investigating. From this, the ideas begin to flow and the assistance in solving the crime can be given to him as the story develops, but in most cases, Anderson will be seen to get the credit when he passes 'his' ideas on. This helps to retain credibility, as Lena and friends aren't seen to be continually doing what should be the police's work. Their involvement is more in the realms of the 'happy coincidence'.They're not in it for the glory, and certainly not for the recognition as Lena's continued success in her chosen profession relies on her maintaining absolute discretion.Tony Birdham is the nearest thing to a partner that Lena has. He is a man who has his own kind of lifestyle, with a private income to support it. His income is provided by the successful transport company that he inherited from his late father, so he no longer needs to work for a living.In the same way that many men will play golf, Tony likes to partake of meaningless recreational paid for sex. He enjoys the anonymity, and the variety of the girls, to be found in those thinly disguised brothels that usually describe themselves as massage parlours or sauna clubs to get around the law. To him, meeting a new working girl is like a golfer playing a new course.It was in this world that their paths initially crossed, but it was the discovery that they shared a love of motorcycling that led them to become close friends.This combination of Lena's work and Tony's recreation gives access to the seedy side of Bristol and Bath society, both at the sleazier, lower budget part of the market where Tony likes to play, as well as the wealthier, and far more refined, end of the spectrum that is Lena's work.With some of Lena's well heeled international clientèle, and with Birdham logistics' transport connections, opportunities for the action to move abroad also become available.Others, from Lena's and Tony's past and present, or from the shared love of motorcycling that brought them together in the first place, get drawn into the mix as required to either add to the clues, assist in the crime solving, or even become drawn into the lives of the criminals as either victims or often unwitting associates.These varied friends and colleagues provide connections to other lifestyles and situations, acting as links and reasons for others to be involved.They include their good friend, and former college drinking partner of Tony, the unconventional clergyman Reverend Ian Motson, a gay atheist vicar who also plays in a popular local Celtic Rock Band. Then there's Agricultural worker Terry Peters and his adored, and equally devoted wife, former street walker and heroin addict, Louise. Student sisters Emily and Charlotte Masters, who have resorted to the oldest profession merely to fund their own busy social lives, feature as do the girls' parents, marketing guru and sports car driver, Marjorie, and accountant father, David to a greater or lesser extent.The two sisters' own somewhat chequered past, with its inevitable acquaintances, is also used to broaden the horizons even further.On the shadier side of things, the ostensibly respectable 'Delacroix Organisation' is often though not always involved in some way, along with lawyer Selwyn Woodward and businessman John Townsend. Abroad, we have Pascal, Gérard, and the redoubtable Régine Charpentier, amongst others.Trying to make sense of it all are the regular police characters, notably detectives Nigel Ratcliffe, Nick Wilson, Julie Atkinson, James Villiers, Andrea Whitmarsh, and the aforementioned, Steve Anderson, along with their other colleagues in various police stations.If you find yourself being drawn to a particular favourite character - ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’ - then there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll crop up again in a later story - occasionally even the dead ones.All of the characters, both major and otherwise, are well developed with back stories that give them lives and personæ of their own. Minor characters in one book, will often become leading characters in others, and vice-versa. When you combine these believable characters with locations that have a real sense of place, and have identities of their own, then they can come alive.Whether it's in a description of a car being driven fast, of a couple enjoying an intimate moment, or simply of the environment in which these activities are taking place, then the attention to detail gives a plot a place where it can really exist.With all these factors to provide a support, the stories themselves can be allowed to grow organically, sometimes with branches that become dead ends or red herrings, as the minutiæ of the characters' own lives keep the reader entertained. It's a little like having your own personal soap opera running in the background. Meanwhile the seeds of clues are being dropped into the mix until eventually the story reaches its hopefully unexpected final conclusion.THEN THE NEXT ONE COMES ALONG.Read more about this authorRead less about this author