Jeffrey Parfitt was born in South Wales in 1959. At 16 he joined the British Merchant Navy as an officer cadet obtaining his Master Mariner certificate in 1988. The variety of countries and cultures that he was exposed to in a professional capacity, along with the literary influences of Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness) and Nicholas Montserrat (The Cruel Sea), inspired him to note his own experiences, even from his first voyage. From 1990 through to 1995 he served as a criminal investigator with a government department in London and the provinces. Involvement in serious crime investigation, international drug smuggling and gun running, and assisting other government departments provides real life inspiration for his stories and plot lines.   The offshore industry has taken him all over the world (Brazil, Australia, Far East...) Jeffrey now serves as Master of a Dive Support vessel in the offshore oil & gas industry, and recently completed two runs through the Gulf of Aden. He writes in two genres, crime fiction and action adventure with a nautical theme. His "Grit-Lit" style is born out of real life experience and the hard-hitting world of the real criminal investigator, not the pseudo-sophisticated safe world of the middle class housewife. As you read it, feel it.  Maddox is a composite of several true life figures, who exist in the shady world of deep undercover government operatives. So he's real, and he's out there...  Visit his home web site www.jeffreyparfitt.co.uk to view the image gallery of  his dive ship passing through the Gulf of Aden - the inspiration for his latest novel SEA OF JACKALS.