A WEB agency director who was awarded a three-book publishing deal two years ago has completed the final instalment of his dark fiction trilogy.

Rob Richardson, from Farley, started writing the trilogy in 2012 after a trip to the battlefields of France in the footsteps of a relative who died in the Great War.

The Darkest Hand, a historical horror thriller set across the First World War where werewolves roam and the Catholic Inquisition holds sway, is published by Duckworth in the UK and Overlook Press in the US.

Rob who writes under his middle name Tarn has sold thousands of books to critical acclaim.

He said: “It’s been an experience. If I wasn’t crazy before I started writing the books, I am now.

“Writing a novel is hugely demanding – creatively, physically and emotionally. But to write three books in four years, novels I am happy to put my name to, that is something completely else.

"But I am happy with the books, immensely proud. It’s something I always wanted to do, ever since I was young and read Lord of the Rings, to have my own trilogy of books published.”

The final book in the series, The Risen, is released on May 18 and will be available from Waterstones Salisbury and online.

Rob who has run Salisbury-based web agency enotions for 15 years said the experience had not put him off writing anything else.

“Far from it. I’ve still got more I want to say, and think I’ve improved as a writer.

“I’ve written a modern day Jack the Ripper thriller that my agent and I are deciding what to do with and I have already started planning my next book. A different war this time, but still full of darkness and light.”