Fiction and current affairs
From British political headlines to a fictional murder mystery
The Martyr's Seat is a political murder mystery inspired by the atmosphere of British headlines.
Why this story, now?
Power, money and the story a country is ready to believe
British political news increasingly arrives with the pace and structure of a thriller: party turmoil, multimillion-pound financial relationships, competing explanations and a public verdict formed before every fact is known.
During 2026, headlines focused on a reported £5 million personal gift received by Nigel Farage from businessman Christopher Harborne, a major Reform UK donor. Mr Farage has said that the gift was unconditional and unrelated to politics. Contemporary accounts can be read at ITV News and Sky News.
That real news story is not the plot of The Martyr's Seat. It illustrates the wider atmosphere explored by the novel: how political identity, money and media framing can shape what people are prepared to believe.
Inside the novel
A prominent politician is murdered. The country thinks it knows why.
Former cabinet minister Sir Malcolm Vale is found dead near his Westminster home. A political explanation spreads before the cause of death has been confirmed, and an obvious suspect appears to make the case complete.
Kiwi, a New Zealand forensic psychologist, asks whether the person who committed the killing is also the person who constructed it. His investigation moves through political loyalty, digital persuasion and institutional self-protection, separating what the evidence proves from what powerful people need it to mean.
THE CRIME
A Westminster murder
A former cabinet minister is dead and the public narrative is already moving faster than the investigation.
THE INVESTIGATOR
Forensic psychologist Kiwi
Kiwi examines not only the facts, but the meaning that political and institutional actors place around them.
THE QUESTION
Who constructed the outcome?
The apparent killer may have committed the act. Someone else may have supplied the opportunity, motive and story.
Available now
Read The Martyr's Seat
The novel is available in English, French and German editions through Amazon.