From Bermuda to B.C.
August 28th, 2019
B.R. Bentley of Nanoose Bay was born in Cape Town in 1946. He has lived in South Africa, Canada and Bermuda while enjoying a successful career as a banker and corporate executive. An enthusiastic sailor, scuba diver, and occasional art collector, he arrived in Canada in 1978.
B.R. Bentley’s first novel, The Cross, was inspired by the theft of the Tucker Cross from the Bermuda Maritime Museum in 1975. After lying undisturbed in the ocean for almost 400 years, the emerald-encrusted solid gold cross was discovered off the coast of Bermuda at the site of the wreck of the Spanish galleon, San Pedro, in 1955. Twenty years later, shortly before an official visit from Queen Elizabeth II, the staff at the museum would learn that the cross had been stolen; switched in its case with a worthless replica. Despite an international investigation by its insurer’s and the police, it would never be recovered. Bentley’s novel, The Cross is a fictional account of the theft. [See below]
In a sequel, The Bermuda Key, Bentley has revisited the investigation into the disappearance of the original cross, while simultaneously following the attempts of the various protagonists to obtain possession of a priceless key hidden within. Only one of the original salvage divers and a mysterious group of cardinals known as the Silenti, are aware that the cross contains a hidden key. Only the cardinals know of the key’s significance to the Papacy.
Bentley’s third book, The Banker’s Box, whose characters include a flamboyant Vancouver banker, a rakish CSIS Intelligence Officer, and an ambitious B.C. premier, delves into the worlds of high finance, politics and crime. Set in British Columbia against the backdrop of the dynamic global LNG shipping industry, the threads of the novel’s multifaceted plot stretch from B.C. to Asia and beyond.
BOOKS:
The Cross (FriesenPress 2014) 978-1-4602-4021-2 U.S. $14.99pb. $24.99 hc. $4.99 e-book
The Bermuda Key (FriesenPress 2015) 978-1-4602-8008-9 U.S. $14.99pb. $24.99 hc. $4.99 e-book
The Banker’s Box (FriesenPress 2019) 978-1-5255-4860-4 U.S. $14.99pb. $24.99 hc. $4.99 e-book
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