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92-YEAR-OLD PUBLISHES THRILLER BASED ON TRUE STORY
By Natalie O'Neill
Times Series
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9017962.92_year_old_publishes_thriller_based_on_tr ue_story/
May 10 2011
UK
A GREAT-grandfather from Hampstead Garden Suburb is celebrating after
becoming one of the country's oldest debut authors, aged 92.
Anthony Tobias spent ten years writing Finders Keepers Killers,
basing the story on his own experience of meeting a murderer.
Set in 1993, the thriller tells of two Armenian criminals who were
recruited by the Russian State Security Commission and sent to London
to block the sale of arms from a crooked British official to the
breakaway state of Chechnya.
The pair, stopping at nothing, assassinated the new Chechen Ambassador
and were subsequently arrested.
Before retiring aged 75, Anthony used to work as an administrator
at a legal practice in the West End and it was whilst accompanying
a solicitor, he met one of the villains in his tale.
Anthony said: "One of the murderers was taken to Wandsworth Prison. He
immediately appealed to us saying he would be killed there for what he
did, so we had him moved to a high security wing in Belmarsh Prison."
Anthony visited the man "a number of times and kept close contact",
supplying him with books and Armenian papers, until one day he received
a call saying he had been found dead in his cell.
Anthony said: "The circumstances were bizarre. An inquest found
he hanged himself and committed suicide but I don't believe it -
I think he was killed for what he did."
After hearing reports about conflict in Chechnya on television
Anthony said it "rekindled" his interest and motivated him to write
his account.
Anthony has lived in the borough for 35 years and has been writing
plays, novels and short stories "every conscious hour" for around
65 years.
He was married to Anne who died ten years ago aged 81, and together
they had a son and daughter.
Anthony, who has six grandchildren and four great grandchildren, said:
"When I used to write using a typewriter I would sit with it on my
knees - it clicked and I found the sound quite companionable."
However, Anthony has progressed to a computer which gives him
"peace and quiet" but said he has currently lost inspiration and has
writer's block.
He said: "For the last few months I haven't written a word but
eventually I'll write again - but god knows what it will be."
Finders Keepers Killers is published by Smoking Gun Books and is
available on their website at www.smokinggunbooks.com, via Amazon
and is also on sale at Waterstone's in High Road, North Finchley.
From: A. Papazian
By Natalie O'Neill
Times Series
http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9017962.92_year_old_publishes_thriller_based_on_tr ue_story/
May 10 2011
UK
A GREAT-grandfather from Hampstead Garden Suburb is celebrating after
becoming one of the country's oldest debut authors, aged 92.
Anthony Tobias spent ten years writing Finders Keepers Killers,
basing the story on his own experience of meeting a murderer.
Set in 1993, the thriller tells of two Armenian criminals who were
recruited by the Russian State Security Commission and sent to London
to block the sale of arms from a crooked British official to the
breakaway state of Chechnya.
The pair, stopping at nothing, assassinated the new Chechen Ambassador
and were subsequently arrested.
Before retiring aged 75, Anthony used to work as an administrator
at a legal practice in the West End and it was whilst accompanying
a solicitor, he met one of the villains in his tale.
Anthony said: "One of the murderers was taken to Wandsworth Prison. He
immediately appealed to us saying he would be killed there for what he
did, so we had him moved to a high security wing in Belmarsh Prison."
Anthony visited the man "a number of times and kept close contact",
supplying him with books and Armenian papers, until one day he received
a call saying he had been found dead in his cell.
Anthony said: "The circumstances were bizarre. An inquest found
he hanged himself and committed suicide but I don't believe it -
I think he was killed for what he did."
After hearing reports about conflict in Chechnya on television
Anthony said it "rekindled" his interest and motivated him to write
his account.
Anthony has lived in the borough for 35 years and has been writing
plays, novels and short stories "every conscious hour" for around
65 years.
He was married to Anne who died ten years ago aged 81, and together
they had a son and daughter.
Anthony, who has six grandchildren and four great grandchildren, said:
"When I used to write using a typewriter I would sit with it on my
knees - it clicked and I found the sound quite companionable."
However, Anthony has progressed to a computer which gives him
"peace and quiet" but said he has currently lost inspiration and has
writer's block.
He said: "For the last few months I haven't written a word but
eventually I'll write again - but god knows what it will be."
Finders Keepers Killers is published by Smoking Gun Books and is
available on their website at www.smokinggunbooks.com, via Amazon
and is also on sale at Waterstone's in High Road, North Finchley.
From: A. Papazian