AN adventure thriller set in Nepal, London, Edinburgh and Dartmoor is the debut novel written by a Major General from Salisbury.

Craig Lawrence CBE wrote The Legacy while serving in Afghanistan and says Salisbury also gets a mention in the book.

He said: “I am passionate about writing and much of the novel was written whilst serving in Afghanistan as a way of unwinding during the 11 months I spent in the country supporting the 2014 Presidential Elections.”

Launched in London last week, there is a local launch taking place in the Salisbury Waterstones this week, Mr Lawrence will be signing copies at the book store from 11.30am on Saturday.

The thriller revolves around the lives of "very different people" including one who, having just completed her PhD, is heading out to the Himalayas to climb some of the world’s most challenging mountains and an assassin stalking a man whose company has developed a revolutionary new social media application.

On June 13, Maj Gen Lawrence will also be signing copies of his newly-published book, The Gurkhas 200 Years of Service to the Crown.

Currently Colonel of the Royal Gurkha Rifles, he has spent more than 30 years serving with the Gurkhas, having been commissioned into the King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) in 1984.

During his career, he has served in the UK, Germany, Nepal, Hong Kong, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, Belize and Brunei and has commanded Gurkhas on operations in Bosnia and the Ivory Coast.

The book contains a foreword written by HRH The Prince of Wales and an introduction by Joanna Lumley OBE. All the royalties from the Gurkha book are going to the Salisbury-based Gurkha Welfare Trust.