Enrico Albyvendie

About the Book

A small corner of working class London in the early part of the twentieth century is the opening setting for the story of a young music hall entertainer, Enrico Albyvendie. From his background as a penniless orphan, he eventually becomes an accomplished conjurer and illusionist but struggles to make a living in the itinerant world of Vaudeville.

To supplement his modest income he has a bizarre part time job working for a well known and respected psychic medium. He also gets involved in marketing a unique health elixir with a show business friend, typical of the quack cures that were popular in Edwardian England.

In the meantime and unknown to Enrico, sinister forces are also at work as a grossly inefficient German spy ring is actively engaged in attempting to blackmail a politician for naval secrets.

Not content with this, they are also engaged in a diabolical plot to kill thousands of ordinary civilians as the storm clouds of World War I begin to gather. Enrico is one of the few young men of his generation who are not able to serve their country on active service. As an innocent bystander, he becomes personally involved with these events and his life becomes a strangely mixed adventure of tragedy, wealth and eventual happiness.

Front cover illustration by Marika Berkeley.
'Published by Trafford in association with Evansyde Associates.'

About the Author

Colin Peck was born in London in 1946 and grew up in a working class environment during the austere post war years. He was fortunate to get a place at Clarendon School and went on to study chemistry, working in his early career in the technical departments of an international oil company.

He started writing several years back, having some short story fiction published in the U.S. and has written factual articles on both nautical and espionage matters, published both in the U.S. and U.K.

'Enrico Albyvendie' is his first novel, inspired by his lifelong interest in London's history and an intricate knowledge of the London taxi trade. Together with his wife Avril, he retired to live in Spain in 2000 and is currently working on the sequel to this book.