81-Year-Old North Carolina Author Releases Second Crime Novel

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Nov. 11, 2014 - PRLog -- A new crime thriller by North Carolina author Billy Wray proves that an author can take up -- and keep -- writing into his 80s.

In The Phantom of Penderlea, a young man running from the law accepts the help of a ruthless father-figure who traffics in drugs, illegal alcohol, and prostitution.

The idea for the novel is based on a true story. The Phantom of Penderlea is a crime thriller set in country that will be familiar to folks living in North Carolina. Fans of the FX Network series Justified will enjoy this look inside rural mafia of the kind Raylan Givens takes on every week in the hit television series.

The Phantom of Penderlea is both crime story and love story, as well as an exploration of the costs and difficulties of overcoming addiction.

"My stories are on what I know best," says author Billy Wray, "which is sin and redemption and recovery."

Wray was born in Cumberland County, North Carolina, in 1933. A veteran of the Korean War and ex-military policeman, he joined the police force in the town of Clinton, near Fayetteville, in the early 1960s. He loved the job, but his obsession with alcohol and life in the fast lane was his undoing from police work. “It’s the only job I’ve ever been fired from,” he said.

"It gets in your blood," he said of his police experience, and he has returned to the experience in retirement, writing crime novels that deal with addiction and recovery.

The Phantom of Penderlea (CreateSpace, $9.99, 248 pages, 5x7 inches, paperback, ISBN 978-1500979300) is available from Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/The-Phantom-Penderlea-Billy-Wray/dp....

For more information, see http://BillyWrayAuthor.com.