AN American author of a new thriller got his inspiration while growing up in post-war Swindon.

Arthur Ragland's novel, The Genesis Legacy, is set in 1953 with the world teetering on the brink of disaster.

It is the eve of the Coronation and four people are caught in a whirlpool of deception, treachery and murder.

American journalist, Helena Claybourn and Detective Chief Inspector John Kincaid race against time as they try to unravel the web of treachery surrounding a Nazi organisation called the Wchteradler.

Mr Ragland, 59, explained that his first insight into war came from rubbish bins in Swindon.

He said: "I was born in Swindon and I grew up at the end of World War Two. A lot of old army equipment was going to dumps in the town.

"Me and my neighbour David used to spend most of our time rummaging through war surplus in the rubbish dump.

"I'd march into the house wearing a gas mask or a helmet and my mother would promptly march me off to bed.

"We were always getting into trouble but I used to love finding all that old stuff.

Arthur, whose grandfather used to work at the Evening Advertiser, left Swindon for America at the age of nine.

He said: "I was only young when I left but I can still remember a lot about it.

"I lived on Western Street and in the winter we used to go to Christ Church and then slide down the hill."

Arthur never knew his father and he grew up with his mother, Elaine Kinneir, two uncles John and Peter and grandmother Florence.

When he was eight his mother met an American man and moved to Texas.

Arthur stayed in Swindon for another year before moving out there to be with them.

He trained as an artist and worked for a number of advertising agencies and art departments in Dallas before moving to Southern California in 1980 with his wife, Ellaine.

Since then he has brought his wife to see Swindon on a couple of occasions.

He said: "It wasn't the sprawling metropolis then that it is now."

The book is available at all online sellers, including www.amazon.co.uk and www.bookshop.blackwell.co.uk and it will be on the shelves by March.