ST CYRES headteacher Dr Jonathan Hicks has launched the sequal to his best-selling WW1 detective novel.

Demons Walk Among Us is the second book featuring military policeman Thomas Oscendale, and follows on from The Dead of Mametz, published in 2011 by Y Lolfa.

Born in Barry, Dr Hicks and received much acclaim for his first novel - set during the third year of the First World War.

It followed Captain Thomas Oscendale’s efforts to arrest a murderer amongst the soldiers of the Welsh Division, who were poised to begin their assault on the German-held Mametz Wood.

The brand-new sequel, Demons Walk Among Us, finds Thomas Oscendale fresh from the horrors of war on the Western Front and on leave in the coastal town of Barry, where he is drawn into the investigation of the savage murder of a war widow. The novel paints a vivid picture of life in the trenches as well as life in the industrial towns of south Wales during the Great War.

“Demons Walk Among Us is set one year on from the first novel in the series,” said Dr Jonathan Hicks. “As 2014 marks 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, there has been a burgeoning of interest in its history and I truly believe that a novel focused around a central character set in this time period will attract widespread interest. Crime novels set in the Great War are something of a rarity.”

Robin Mellor from the Great War Society, said he anticipated great success for the series.

“Thomas Oscendale has the potential to develop into one of the great literary sleuths, such as Poirot and Sherlock Holmes,” he said.

Aside from fiction, Dr Hicks has also penned four books on military history. He won the Victorian Military Society’s top award for an article from his first book, A Solemn Mockery in 2006 and was awarded the Western Front Association Shield in 2010 for an illustrated account of his hometown’s military past, Barry and the Great War.

Demons Walk Among us is available now for £8.95 Dr Hicks lives in Barry with his wife and three sons. He is a longstanding supporter of Cardiff City F.C.

His website is www.jonathanhicks.co.uk