A CRIME author who recently signed a four-book publishing deal will be signing copies of his debut novel in Winchester.

Antony M. Brown will be at Waterstone's in the Brooks Shopping Centre to talk about The Green Bicycle Mystery, the first book in his series, Cold Case Jury.

Antony, from Chandler's Ford, is an award-winning essayist, former magazine editor-in-chief and member of the Crime Writers' Association. He published several e-books online before signing with Mirror Books in January.

Antony said: "Each book is a true crime mystery in which readers are invited to deliver their verdict online, helping to bring some closure to the cold case. My goal is to combine history with a real-life whodunnit."

The Green Bicycle Mystery is about the unsolved shooting of Bella Wright in July 1919.

A young woman is found dead by her bicycle in a lonely country lane, with bloodied bird tracks leading from the body to a nearby field gate.

Through the adjacent meadow a path has been recently beaten and at its end lies a dead crow.

The only clue is that she was last seen with a man on a green bicycle, who seemingly vanishes into thin air. The case remains unsolved to this day.

The reader is shown what happened – and what might have happened – through dramatic reconstruction and reproduces some of the original evidence, like exhibits in a court, enabling readers to become part of the case.

Antony’s book presents new evidence in the case, including a key document that has been hidden in a police safe for decades.

"I believe the complete story of this fascinating case has now been told for the first time," he said.

"I hope readers will deliver their verdicts and bring some closure to a case which has remained unsolved for nearly a century."

He added that the idea for Cold Case Jury was born inside a classroom on the campus of Southampton University where he attended ‘Telling True Stories’, a non-fiction workshop for writers run by author Iain Gately.

“It’s taken over two years to get to this point but seeing my book in Waterstone’s makes all the work worthwhile,” he said.

Antony will be at Waterstone’s between 2pm and 4pm on Saturday July 22, signing copies of his new book and talking about the case.