jeff keithly

Rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen. But when lifelong friendships are betrayed, even a gentleman can lose control. Welcome to the world of Loose Head, a first-class thriller and murder mystery set in the world of international rugby.

Anyone who has ever played the game knows the first Rule of Rugby: what happens on tour, stays on tour. When John Weathersby, loose-head prop for the aristocratic Hastewicke Gentlemen old-boys rugby team, violates this sacred trust, the consequences are swift – and deadly. And it’s up to Dex Reed, Hastewicke flanker and a detective with Hendon Specialist Crime Directorate, to discover which of his teammates will stoop to slaughter to protect his secret life.

Dex is faced with a gut-wrenching dilemma: how to solve a blackmailer’s murder while still protecting his oldest friends’ dark secrets – and his own. Along the way he must unravel a tangled skein of duplicity, on his way to an answer he could never expect.

Seething with authentic rugby action, steamy sex, sudden violence and ribald humor, Loose Head builds to a riveting and unforeseen climax.