Greg Duggan has been compared to Jack Reacher, James Bond and Die Hard’s John McClane. Now, after a four-year wait, he’s back, as the latest instalment of Chris Berry’s unique crime thriller series, set in the world of rugby league, has been released.
“MURDERS, mayhem and mystery mean that Greg’s life is constantly in danger while he tries to juggle his on-field career and his always complicated love life,” says West Yorkshire author Berry, whose latest release is Tough Season The French Connection.
“Greg is a flawed hero. His wife has left him. He wants to see more of his young son, Kyle, and his girlfriend Susie, and he wants to get fit again so he can play for a new Super League club in south-west France. But the deaths of prominent people in Aerospace Valley, and a mysterious woman called Fortune, make achieving any of these anything but simple.”
Sounds intriguing!
“I started the series with Tough Season in 2019 when Greg was playing for a down-on-their luck team in the bottom tier of the professional game,” explained Berry.
“He has subsequently played in Lanzarote in Tough Season In The Sun (2020) and in Australia and the South Pacific in Tough World (2021).
“Every book sees Greg in tough situations. He’s a great player, but he’s not a detective and somehow has to fight his way out of, well, I’d better not tell you, because that would spoil things. Let’s just say that’s where some readers have talked of Greg as the Jack Reacher of the sports world.”
Berry’s Greg Duggan thrillers have received acclaim with a nomination in the Crime Writers Association’s Dagger Awards and rave reviews from readers who enjoy the sport and crime thrillers and murder mysteries. As a writer he has developed a reputation for action, suspense and surprising the reader with ingenious twists to his storylines.
“If you like rugby league and enjoy reading thrillers with loads of things going on, you’ll love Tough Season The French Connection and the others,” added Berry.
“I get so many reviews where readers say you don’t have to be into the sport to love them, which is how I’d hope it would be.
“I have set all of the books in places that I know well. In Tough Season Greg is playing for a club that could easily be seen as one of those that have a great tradition but are really struggling; I’ve holidayed a lot in the Canary Islands and the idea for the murders in Tough Season In The Sun came from staying in Playa Blanca; the locations for Tough World include Byron Bay where my eldest son lives and the island of Efate, part of Vanuatu, halfway between Australia and Fiji where we have stayed while visiting him.
“Tough Season The French Connection is set in Pau and the Pyrenees. My wife and I have good friends who live in the countryside around there and I’ve used their location too, in a wine producing area called Madiran.”
While feedback from the those who have enjoyed Berry’s previous mysteries suggests the series would make a great Netflix series or even a feature film, The author that he’s yet to receive any news of the books being picked up in such a way.
“There have only ever been two general release feature films set around rugby league – the excellent, gritty ‘This Sporting Life’ released in 1963 based on David Storey’s superb novel, which saw Rachel Roberts nominated for an Oscar; and the fabulous, funny ‘Up ‘n’ Under’ by John Godber, which did very well at the box office in 1998,” added Berry.
“It would be great to see Greg brought to the screen, whatever size. I had a meeting with someone from Screen Yorkshire recently, so you never know.”
Berry’s career as a writer includes twenty books, with autobiographies of singers Joe Longthorne and Tony Christie and Coronation Street’s Bruce Jones aka Les Battersby as well as children’s book series Milkman Mike. He is a well-respected farming feature writer in the Yorkshire Post.
“I chose a rugby league player as the central character for the Tough series because the sport has always been one I have loved. I have lived in West Yorkshire for nearly 40 years but I was born and grew up in Hull. Rovers (Hull KR) are my team and we have had a fantastic couple of seasons although we’ve won nothing yet.
“Greg’s character will resonate with some players in the rugby league world but I think even some of the very best might find it difficult to cope with some of the situations I put Greg in.
“I’ve made a start on the fifth book which will see Greg challenged more than he’s ever been before – and he’s had some massive problems to deal with in the first four books. If you like action of all kinds, on the field of play and everywhere imaginable then you’ll love them.”
Tough Season The French Connection and the rest of the series can all be read as standalone books. They are published by Great Northern Books and available on Amazon, all good bookshops or the publishers, and on Kindle.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 509 (June 2025)