A former Keighley College lecturer has switched from writing technical books to publishing his first thriller.

Oakworth man Ron Puckering has focused on terrorism for his debut novel Threat Assessment.

York-born Ron ran an electrical engineering firm in Colne but it closed during the recession of the early 1980s.

He turned to teaching, first in Colne then as a full-time lecturer for four years in Keighley.

He moved to London in the mid-1980s to become senior lecturer at the City of Westminster College, where he worked for 15 years.

While there he wrote four successful technical books for Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Following retirement he moved back to Yorkshire, where he now lives in Goose Cote Lane, Oakworth.

He said: "I took a creative writing and was lucky enough to have a short story published by Your Cat magazine.

"Since then I have been runner-up twice in the Writers News short story competitions.

Two years ago he posted his first effort at writing a novel on the Arts Council-sponsored website youwriteon.com.

He said: "Over the following months no less than 40 people reviewed my efforts and honed the rough draft into the story that it is today."

Threat Assessment was published in November by New Generation, part of Legend Press.

Threat Assessment tells of terror attacks on Washington in the wake of the World Trade Centre destruction of 2001.

FBI agent Tom Calhan is horrified when a White House aide kills himself after being interviewed as part of a routine security check.

But the death turns out to be the murder and soon Tom is tackling bombers, kidnappers and assassination attempts.

Threat Assessment is available in paperback from Reids bookshop in Cavendish Street, Keighley.