Additional information
by Ewen Southby-Tailyour (Author)
Based on the author's 32 years as a Royal Marines officer in numerous war zones, including leading the amphibious assault in the Falklands War, Death's Sting tells this fictional tale of international intrigue, murder, love and revenge.
The Balkans War of the 1990s is the setting, with 200,000 Serbs about to be ethnically cleansed despite United Nations attempts to prevent the slaughter, rape and destruction of their 500-year homeland.
During a Serbian artillery attack Matea Markovic and her young son are saved by James Laidlaw, ex-Royal Navy officer and European Community monitor, but he soon realises that there are even greater evil forces at play. Colonel Ante Slavic of the Croatian army is determined to prevent James from discovering the truth of his murderous campaign and is prepared to kill anyone who stands in his way, including Matea and her son.
With American Special Forces and the Secret Services of France, Germany, Greece and Britain all in theatre James is forced to fight on many fronts. James, Matea and her son are in danger once again when the indicted war criminal Slavic, on the run from justice, pursues them to the rugged south Cornish coast where the outcome, and who is destined for a watery grave, are far from certain.
While the author's expertise and experience is demonstrated throughout, readers will have to decide for themselves how close to the truth Death's Sting really is.
Author Biography
Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who was educated at the Nautical College Pangbourne and Grenoble University, was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1960 and served, inter alia, with the French Commando Hubert in the south of France and Corsica; with the Unites States Marine Corps in the Mediterranean; in the West Indies; in the Dhofar War (where he was awarded the Sultan of Muscat's Bravery Medal) in Northern Ireland; in Hong Kong; on North Sea oil rigs; in Arctic Norway and throughout the Falklands Campaign (following which he was appointed an OBE). He retired in 1992 as a Lieutenant-Colonel and the following year joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for duties as a monitor with the European Community Monitoring Mission (ECMM) in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. Here he was tasked informally by the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) to keep an eye on one or two individuals while reporting on Croatia's preparation for war against the breakaway, so-called Republic of Serbian Krajina. He resigned from the ECMM in 1994 in protest at being ordered to falsify his daily reports in order to prevent the breaking of United Nations Arms Embargo, 713 being made public. Death's Sting is a novel based on the author's experiences in the Republic of Serbian Krajina and Croatia.
