BURNLEY-born writer Peter Guttridge could be laughing all the way to the bank with proceeds from his debut novel.

A freelance journalist now living in Sussex, Peter, 45, has turned his talents to producing a fast-moving comedy thriller.

'No Laughing Matter' starts off at the biggest comedy festival in the world in Montreal, then to the Edinburgh Festival and on to Hollywood.

An old-fashioned word 'corny' came to mind when the story started out with a naked woman flashing past a hotel window while writer and hero Nick Madrid is tied up in his yoga exercises.

But the joke was on me. The book is reminiscent of a Raymond Chandler story with as many twists and turns, but more gags.

Instead of a down-at-heel gumshoe, the narrator is a freelance journalist following the fortunes of the rich and famous. Peter is an old boy of Burnley Grammar School and has had a successful career writing for quality national newspapers and magazines.

His parents, Ada and Jim, still live in Burnley and he will be visiting them even more often this summer as he works on his second novel 'A ghost of a Chance,' which takes a humorous look at black magic.

'No Laughing Matter' is published by Headline Book Publishing Ltd at £16.99.

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