The Lothario

“Find ’em, kiss ’em, bed ’em and leave ’em” is an old adage given as worldly advice by cynical doyens to their North Country sons. Since the age of 14, Peter Holmes has lived by this premise, with an additional codicil: “If they have money, take some of it from them.” Romance to Peter Holmes is a charade, a job, a means to an end, but that doesn’t mean to say there is no enjoyment.The sexual adventures of the great lotharios – Don Juan and Casanova – are well recorded, but not so those of Peter Holmes, and that’s how he likes it. Publicity is the last thing he wants. Peter is a hustler, a con-man first-class. His prey: very rich women, any shape, any size, any age.His journey into their heart, into their bed, into their bank balance and into thin air is the way he works. Good looks, good education, good manners and good bedmanship are the attributes that are making him rich. His theatre: luxury cruise ships travelling to exotic places.Peter Holmes’s exploits take him to destinations scheduled, and some not, but he is always in control. Or is he?

John Laycock, like the lothario Peter Holmes, is a proud Yorkshireman. But that is where the similarity ends. John, for all his working life, was an electrical engineer, his only professional writing being that of technical specifications and letters (the things we used as written communications before the advent of e-mails and texts). John is a family man with four children and two grandsons. His first novel, The White Storks, was self-published in e-form and is available on Amazon. The Lothario is his first novel to be published in print.