To Be Frank

Kevan Christie

Sep 2025 · Book Guild Publishing

About this ebook

Fifty-something newspaper columnist, Frank Savage, pens a controversial piece calling for dogs and babies to be banned from cafés as his swansong to journalism. Instead of being dismissed, the column catapults him to stardom—and into further trouble.

On a night out, Frank spots his arch-enemy, Brewster, 56—an apparently reformed racist, homophobic football hooligan turned drug dealer, now a respected figure in the local community—whom he blames for his brother’s death.

This coincides with the arrival of his eldest daughter, Naomi, whom Frank hasn’t seen for years. A genius with numbers, she works for an organised crime syndicate in London, headed by the Wise One, but is desperate to break free and go straight. The Syndicate places Naomi in the seaside town of Portobello, Edinburgh, to work alongside Brewster, overseeing their money laundering operation.

As Naomi and Frank grow closer and begin to heal old wounds, neither realises they are both hiding secrets that would devastate the other.

Ratings and reviews

A good read

About the author

Born in Edinburgh, Kevan Christie left school at 16 to work in a builder’s merchant. He spent the next two decades doing a variety of jobs in the city’s financial institutions. He gained a degree in journalism from Napier University in 2006 and there followed a career with the Daily Record, The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday. To Be Frank is his debut novel.