A lifetime of working in crime has helped shape the final chapter of a series of books.

The closing volume in the Vengeance of Memory trilogy by Tunbridge Wells author Mark Oldfield is published this month.

Mr Oldfield moved to Tunbridge Wells in 1987 with his wife Vivien to take up a post as head of research at the Kent Probation Service headquarters in Maidstone.

With a PhD in criminology, he worked as a criminological researcher for more than 20 years before becoming a full-time writer in 2008.

During that time he worked with Kent Police and lectured on criminology and research methods at the University of Kent.

As a young man inspired by Hemingway, he first visited Spain in 1976 to experience the Fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona first hand.

Since then he has made many visits and his experiences of the sights, smells and sounds of that country along with his academic expertise have combined to provide him with material for The Dead, a taut thriller.

In the present day, forensic scientist Ana María Galíndez, of the Guardia Civil, continues her investigation into the crimes that secret policeman Leopoldo Guzmán committed in the years following the Spanish Civil War.

While in 1982 Comandante Guzmán has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is in his grave and there’s no place in the new order for the head of the dead dictator’s secret police.

Mr Oldfield, 60, said: “As I began work on The Dead I did so with a sense of imminent loss Whatever the ending, I was saying goodbye to Guzmán and Ana María – two people who, for almost a decade, have occupied an important place in my life.”

The Dead is published by Head of Zeus and is available from Amazon and leading booksellers. Hardback £20, Kindle edition £5.03.