An author from Carshalton who was handed a three-book deal by publishing giant HarperCollins last year will see his second novel hit the shelves this week.

Last summmer (check) David Kessler, from Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, finished his exciting new novel, No Way Out, which he describes as a “legal thriller and courtroom drama”.

The book focuses on his fictional San Francisco lawyer Alex Sedaka, the central character in his previous novel Mercy, who defends a black neo-conservative talk show host on a charge of raping a white girl in a case that bitterly divides America.

Mr Kessler said: "I wanted to introduce a central character, set in an American backdrop, who could feature in a series of books."

He was born to a Jewish family in London but unlike the majority of successful authors left school at 15-years-old.

Shortly afterwards, the budding writer penned a screenplay that he showed to his mother's cousin, movie director Clive Donner and such was the reaction Mr Kessler realised he wanted to become a writer.

He said: “I started writing creatively at 15 but, frustratingly, I had to wait until my late thirties to secure a deal with publishers Hodder Headline.

“Then I quickly completed two fictional novels, Tarnished Heroes and Reckless Justice, but around that time, in the late 1990s, it was a really bad time for the publishing industry and as a result I parted company with Hodder.”

In 1999, the 53-year-old courted controversy by co-writing a book about the Rachel Nickell Wimbledon Common murder called Who Really Killed Rachel?

The book, published by relative unknown Greenzone after the major publishers turned it down, named Robert Napper, who eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2008, as one of four credible suspects.

Mr Kessler said: "Some authors like to write in fits and starts whenever they are inspired but I don’t like to sit and wait, I just get on with it.

"I still put in a day’s work, although my day might start a little later than most peoples."

But after hiring a new agent Mr Kessler, who cites Harlan Coben, Sidney Sheldon and Dan Brown as his influences, made a comeback in 2009 after signing a three-book deal with HarperCollins.

No Way Out was released on June 10 and will be available in most branches of Asda and Tesco.