Foul Play
Tom Palmer

When England and City football hero Sam Roberts is reported missing the day after Danny saw him being taken, blindfolded, into the bowels of the City FC stadium late at night, he's determined to get to the bottom of it. But is Danny getting into something he can't handle?

This short, detective story zips along at a cracking pace as Danny seeks to solve the mystery of the missing star footballer.

Tom Palmer
Foul Play

Tom Palmer is a football fan and a writer. He never did well at school. But once he got into reading about football - in newspapers, magazines and books - he decided he wanted to be a football writer more than anything. As well as the Football Detective series, he is the author of the forthcoming Boys United series, also for Puffin Books.

Tom lives in a Yorkshire town called Todmorden with his wife and daughter. The best stadium he's visited is Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeau.

Find out more about Tom on his website

Click here to read Tom's blog.

(Page 11)

"PRIVATE DETECTIVE

Danny sat with his back to a Portakabin.

He was now right next to City Stadium, looking at the players’ entrance and a fire exit from the side of the main stand. Danny had never been this close to the door the players slipped in and out of before and after games. This was the car park – empty now – where all the Ferraris and Porsches would normally be parked.

After the chase, Danny’s body was beginning to calm down. He felt exhausted. In his legs. His lungs. His head. What had he been thinking? Tracking burglars. Being chased through the streets by a criminal at three in the morning. Nearly being caught! And losing his notebook. How had that come out of his pocket?"

Extract taken from Foul Play by Tom Palmer published by Puffin Books