The Norris Sanction

It is London in the 1970s and when assassin Myopic Mick misses his target and kills a vagrant rather than Andy Norris, the hunt for the killer is on. Saved by the texture of the batter on his piece of plaice, Andy (whose only ambitions in life are to seduce his flat-mate Lucy and check out a game of darts from 170) is catapulted into a cat and mouse game to try and apprehend the killer and escaped convict, Kenny ‘The Giant’ Craft. Hapless PC Crocker, who inadvertently apprehended Craft whilst investigating the theft of a bicycle, leads the search using various ingenious disguises in an attempt to trap the criminals before they can strike again. In a sting operation planned by his bowel-obsessed chief superintendent, a crack team of undercover cops led by Crocker use Norris as the bait in a cunning trap – what could possibly go wrong?

Dr Grahame Howard was born in London in 1953 and his family moved to Norwich when he was four years old. His childhood, particularly the eccentric behaviour of his father, is documented in his first book, ‘The Tales of Dod', published in 2010. He returned to London to study Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital Medical School, from where he graduated in 1976. Following a series of junior doctor posts in both London and Cambridge he was appointed consultant Clinical Oncologist in Edinburgh in 1986. His subsequent career was spent at the Edinburgh Western General Hospital, specialising in prostate and testicular cancer, eventually becoming Clinical Director of the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, an examiner for the Royal College of Radiologists and assistant editor of Clinical Oncology. ‘Spoz and his Friends' documents the writer's life as a medical student in the 1970s, and relates with humour the faltering transition of these young men from schoolboys to newly-qualified doctors.