Paul Bird

Saul Kenneth Falconer is the pen name of Paul Bird, a fiction writer who lives in Sydney, Australia He was born and raised in Newcastle, Australia, where he studied nursing, then medicine and began his specialist training as a physician. When he is not writing, he works as a Rheumatologist, caring for people suffering from arthritis and joint diseases.

Writing gripping crime and thrilling science fiction has been a passion since his youth.

The Diabolus Legacy, and The Demon Mark, are crime thrillers set in 19th Century Sydney and the Upper Hunter. The reader is immersed in the world of provincial New South Wales as Cormag Macleod, a brilliant but troubled war veteran police inspector, investigates a series of murders in the Allyn River valley.

“Falconer captures the rhythms and speech patterns of frontier life with understated skill. The period research that obviously underpins the series is once again both thorough and unobtrusive, and this novel’s moody evocations—the dirt, the countryside, the volatile weather. And the center of the tale, Macleod—a military veteran who served in the Crimean War—remains a compelling fictional creation. He’s a convincingly wounded figure and the nightmares that haunt him are eerie and visceral . The ghosts that haunt the hero are very skilfully interwoven—indeed, inextricably linked—with Macleod’s own past, which is much more fully fleshed out for readers in this tale. And the author’s take on the familiar gimmick of the mentally wounded protagonist works exceptionally well. Readers who have followed other ex-military characters will especially appreciate the sensitive rendering of the hero.”