He has been shot at by rebels in Sri Lanka, had rockets fired at him in Afghanistan and now a Harpenden born journalist has used his life experiences to pen his second novel.

Nick Macfie’s latest book Kiss Me, Hadley is the second in a series about a hapless reporter called Hadley Arnold who quickly finds himself out of his depth against a backdrop of exotic locations and illegal gambling.

It is set in Hong Kong, where the author now works as a chief copy editor for news agency Reuters, and features some scenes in London that are based on his spell working at a casino in Soho in his 20s.

The 59-year-old said: “A lot of the stories he goes on overlap somehow with stories I did but Hadley, I would have to say, is more feckless and accident-prone.”

He added: “He gets surprised by things rather a lot.

“Events are not as he expects them to be. He’s frequently confused.

“There’s a great deal of adventure in the novel but there are also many surreal moments. It’s a very visual, colourful story.”

The dad-of-two first started working as a reporter at a local newspaper in Sussex in 1978, and after a stint on a Cambridge newspaper he landed himself a job in Australia at the Sydney Sun.

He later moved to Hong Kong to take up a position at the South China Morning Post, and has since worked for various other titles during which time he has been sent on assignments all around Asia.

Nick’s first venture into writing books came with his debut novel Hadley, which also follows the fictional journalist in Hong Kong, and he is currently working on a third title in what will become a five-part series.

For more information visit www.nickmacfie.com