Keith Redfern
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Retired from both teaching and charity administration, writing is my third career. Originally from Derbyshire in the heart of England, I now live in Suffolk, near its east coast. Fairly well travelled I have also lived in Wales, the Bahamas and most recently, France.
Married to Rosemary, who paints, I have a son, two step daughters and five grandchildren. When not writing I go for long distance walks, sing with Ipswich Choral Society, study English history, keep the garden tidy and travel as much as possible. I also enjoy Current Affairs discussions, most types of music, all types of transport and old movies.
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First Day Back
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Comedy drama
What would happen if a teacher absconded, during a school trip, with an ex-pupil? Would the pupils in her care return to school safely? How would their parents be likely to react? How would the school cope? What would staff members think? What would the Headmaster do? These, and other questions are answered in Keith Redfern’s first novel, which provides some of the back story to Apportionment of Blame. Set in the early 90s, it describes the first day of a Spring Term in an English Comprehensive School. Fresh and well rested from their Christmas break, everyone should be ready to face the challenges ahead. But staff members are frustrated by current changes in education, and particularly those which affect the running of their school. Many are considering leaving the profession, and the Head of Music appears to have found the ideal route in Corfu, during a Mediterranean cruise. But she is with a man ten years her junior. Someone of dubious reputation, who has swept her off her feet, causing her to forget the likely consequences of her actions for those in her care, for the colleagues she has abandoned and for her own professional future. The mild mannered Headmaster is thrown into a panic of confusion. What should be done? What can be done? With visits from a school inspector, members of the press and a drunken caretaker, then a Governors’ Meeting to cope with, this is his day from hell. As money is tight, schools are now controlled by accountants. Bizarre changes have been enacted, including the introduction of a footballer style transfer system for teachers, and classroom lights which switch off automatically when a lesson ends, in order to save energy. Sniffing a new scandal, members of the local press clamour for information where it can be found, from pupils, members of the cruise party, irate parents, and members of the school staff, if they can be persuaded to talk. |
Meanwhile teachers try to get on with their day as normally as possible. Rumours abound and the unfolding situation only makes the day harder for those who have additional responsibilities than just teaching.
Apportionment of Blame
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Thriller Mystery
Greg Mason has not long set up his detective agency when an old friend asks him to investigate the death of her half-sister, Helen. She was killed at a level crossing, the coroner’s open verdict leaving too many unanswered questions. Almost immediately the friend, Joyce, is abducted and left lying outside Greg’s office. Working together, Greg and Joyce discover that Helen’s life had not been as settled as was thought. She had upset a boyfriend by ending their relationship, and was distressed by the pursuit and infatuation of a colleague at work. Greg goes in search of both potential suspects, and begins to realise the challenge of basing his judgement of guilt or innocence simply on how people answer questions. Then he learns of a second mystery. Helen had expected to inherit from her grandmother, Annie, but the whole estate was left to someone unknown to the family, called Ilse. Greg becomes sure the inheritance is linked to Helen’s death. While not sure how, he tries to find clues to the beneficiary’s identity. His ambitions as a latter day Philip Marlowe are hampered by a lack of confidence, and he constantly questions his own deductions and conclusions. Not prepared to believe Helen took her own life, and unwilling to believe her death was an accident, he looks for someone to blame. When he discovers Joyce was kidnapped by Ilse’s brother, he thinks he has the answer. However. a chance meeting with Helen’s ex-boyfriend in suspicious circumstances, then a phone call about her ex-colleague, suggest the case will not be so easy to solve. Tracking down the mysterious Ilse, Greg unearths an intriguing family story which leads to a third mystery. How are Ilse and Annie connected? Greg realises the only way to find out is by cultivating Ilse’s friendship, but this is hampered by her inherent shyness and suspicions of his motives. Early visits seem to get him nowhere, but he knows he must persevere and succeed if he is to consider himself a real detective. |
Eventually Greg learns that Ilse is Annie’s daughter, the product of a wartime liaison with a German airman. She was given up for adoption, but lost her adoptive mother in an air raid, this serving to intensify the hatred her new father had developed for all Germans, a hatred passed on to his sons.
It begins to seem that this pathological hatred led to Helen’s death, but Ilse’s brother claims only to have witnessed how Helen died, not to have been the cause. So Greg’s initial question remains. Who, if anyone, can be blamed?
Further investigation at the scene of the incident makes him realise the connection with the ex-colleague, whose garden, it transpires, lies adjacent to the railway line. When he confronts the girl’s parents, she flees, unable to face the consequences of her actions. Greg and her father manage to find her before it is too late, and she agrees to go to the police.
Having succeeded in befriending Ilse, Greg introduces her to Helen’s family, and she tells them she had neither expected nor wanted Annie’s inheritance, but had just wanted to find her birth mother. A final meeting leads to the surprising discovery of why her father had come to Britain during the war.
It begins to seem that this pathological hatred led to Helen’s death, but Ilse’s brother claims only to have witnessed how Helen died, not to have been the cause. So Greg’s initial question remains. Who, if anyone, can be blamed?
Further investigation at the scene of the incident makes him realise the connection with the ex-colleague, whose garden, it transpires, lies adjacent to the railway line. When he confronts the girl’s parents, she flees, unable to face the consequences of her actions. Greg and her father manage to find her before it is too late, and she agrees to go to the police.
Having succeeded in befriending Ilse, Greg introduces her to Helen’s family, and she tells them she had neither expected nor wanted Annie’s inheritance, but had just wanted to find her birth mother. A final meeting leads to the surprising discovery of why her father had come to Britain during the war.
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