Twining, James 1972–

PERSONAL: Born December, 1972, in London, England; married; children: Amelia. Education: Christ Church, Oxford, graduated, 1995. Hobbies and other interests: Collecting brass and iron plates or plaques from old safes and store rooms.

ADDRESSES: Agent—James Twining—Private Mail, c/o Curtis Brown, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP, England. E-mail—mail@jamestwining.com.

CAREER: Novelist and entrepreneur. UBS (investment bank), financial advisor for four years; business owner until 2002.

AWARDS, HONORS: Named among Best of Young British Entrepreneurs, New Statesman.

WRITINGS:

The Double Eagle (novel), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

The Black Sun (novel), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Three more books in the "Tom Kirk" series.

SIDELIGHTS: James Twining is a former financial consultant and entrepreneur who sold his business in 2002 to turn his attention full time to writing novels. His debut, The Double Eagle, is "an old-fashioned well-written thriller about a treasure hunt but with a twist," commented a reviewer for Shots online. In the novel, five exceptionally rare gold coins have turned up missing from the vaults at Fort Knox. The coins are twenty-dollar "Double Eagle" gold pieces, which were minted as legal U.S. tender until 1933. That year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt removed the country's currency from the gold standard, recalled all the coins, and had them melted down. However, some of the coins escaped melting; at least one fell into private hands and five were stored at Fort Knox. With the coins now worth more than eight million dollars each, their theft is vexing to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the other government agencies that were supposed to keep them secure.

When one of the coins shows up lodged in the throat of an ex-priest in Paris, the theft of the other specimens is discovered. The FBI assigns Special Agent Jennifer Browne to the case. Browne's position with the agency is in turmoil because of the accidental shooting death of a fellow agent. Solving the case of the missing coins could be the victory she needs to salvage her career. The agency suspects the coin heist involves renowned burglar Tom Kirk, a brilliant thief who is eyeing retirement, but there is nothing to link him directly to the case. Browne travels to London to meet with Kirk and solicit his assistance in finding the coins, but things begin badly when a sample coin that Browne was carrying is stolen. Uneasy in their new alliance to recover the Double Eagles, Browne and Kirk find themselves betrayed and at the same time pursued through international locales by some dangerous characters with murderous intentions.

"Despite a highly theatrical and overly protracted finale, this is an auspicious beginning for a fledgling series," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. "The Double Eagle just may be the fun book of the year," commented Joe Hartlaub on Bookreporter.com. "Twining has a nice, light touch that makes the book a pleasant diversion," concluded Ron Bernas in the Detroit Free Press.

Positive reviews of The Double Eagle sparked several sequels, beginning with The Black Sun and continuing on for at least three more installments.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Detroit Free Press, September 11, 2005, Ron Bernas, "Trite Tale Has Light Touch," review of The Double Eagle.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2005, review of The Double Eagle, p. 709.

Publishers Weekly, July 25, 2005, review of The Double Eagle, p. 42.

Rocky Mountain Press, September 9, 2005, Peter Mergendahl, review of The Double Eagle.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (October 23, 2005), Joe Hartlaub, review of The Double Eagle.

James Twining Home Page, http://www.jamestwining.com (October 23, 2005).

Shots Online, http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/ (October 23, 2005), review of The Double Eagle.