Maltese author James Vella-Bardon’s debut novel The Sheriff’s Catch was named “must-read of the week” in The Scotsman last month.

Columnist Gwyneth Rees described Vella-Bardon’s debut, recently re-released by his new publisher Tearaway Press, as containing “sparkling language and lucid descriptions”, while hailing its author as a “prodigious literary talent” who “has what it takes to become a literary giant”. 

This accolade was closely followed by a review in the Reader’s Digest a few days later, in which the novel was described as “a remarkably confident literary debut… more charged than a barrel of gunpowder”, with Vella-Bardon described as “a virtuoso of historical fiction” and “something of a story machine”.

Earlier this year, on January 22, The Sheriff’s Catch was also reviewed in The London Economic, which described it as “all you could ask of a novel − action, suspense, pathos” while noting its “sheer quality, historical integrity and emotional resonance”.

An audiobook version of The Sheriff’s Catch, narrated by the award-winning English narrator Jonathan Keeble, is set to be released on all audiobook platforms worldwide on Friday, July 15.

Vella-Bardon recently also released a short story entitled The Cream of Chivalry, which is available for free to all subscribers who sign up to the mailing list on the author’s website. The short story is a prequel to the author’s recently released novella Mad King Robin, which has been selected for serialisation on global book club The Pigeonhole. The novel is currently available for purchase from Agenda Bookshop and Merlin Library, among other Maltese bookshops.

The sequel to Vella-Bardon’s debut novel The Sheriff’s Catch, entitled A Rebel North, will be released on August 12.

For more information and updates, visit www.jamesvellabardon.com.