British historical mystery stories featuring Rhys Maren
The Rhys Maren short stories are British historical mysteries centred on investigation rather than chase scenes or dark alleys. Written by Cecil Atley each story begins with a trigger, usually a piece of recorded evidence, that raises a question about the past. That evidence is only the starting point, behind it is a human story that may have been forgotten or misunderstood.
Rhys's task is to uncover that story before it disappears completely.
As he investigates, he discovers quiet truths, unspoken sacrifices and lives that history has left behind. His work is not simply about finding out what happened. It is about discovering who was affected, understanding why it happened and showing why that story still matters.
The Rhys Maren stories
Archives of Ash
Rhys Maren is hired to examine a deepfake video that shows a teenager confessing to murder. He proves the video is fake by spotting a flaw in the eyes. Tracing the voice model used to create it, he discovers his dead grandmother's voice inside the training data. This leads him to Ashcombe Hall, a secret wartime listening station where his grandmother worked and a chain of custody that connects wartime recordings to a modern AI company. The recording left behind warns him not to open a tin, but he does and uncovers the truth.
The Welsh Archive
During a television programme about evidence, a caller named Elin sends in a colour photograph from 1921 taken in North Wales. Colour photography should not have existed there at that time. Rhys investigates and proves the photograph is genuine. He uncovers the hidden career of Thomas Ellwood, a Foreign Office clerk who worked for Edward Hales, taking photographs of ports, airfields and embassies to provide reliable visual evidence for the government. Thomas never sought credit for his work.
The Thin Chain
A plain envelope sends Rhys Maren to a hotel in Conwy, where he meets Anna Schmidt, the daughter of Tomasz Kovács and Hilde Schmidt. Tomasz’s papers reveal a Cold War career built around radar, unexplained returns and the deliberate ambiguity of what appeared on British screens. What begins as a family enquiry soon draws Rhys towards a story of hidden flights, altered records and the things that were never meant to be seen.
Forget Me Not
A quiet investigation into an act of remembrance becomes a meditation on how memory passes between generations. When Rhys Maren observes a woman placing Forget-Me-Nots against a blank section of a village war memorial, he begins tracing a forgotten airman whose name was never carved into stone. Through Gwynedd Evans's letters, photographs and recordings, he discovers that remembrance is not something we inherit but something we choose and that every generation must decide for itself whose stories deserve to survive.
Available from 27th October 2026
AI and My Writing
I use generative AI when writing these stories and I see no reason to hide it. It’s simply one of the tools I rely on during drafting and editing, whether I'm testing an idea, untangling a clunky passage, checking continuity or digging into research.
That doesn’t mean I accept everything it spits out. Far from it, it is totally unreliable. Most suggestions get questioned, heavily rewritten or tossed in the bin. I create and keep detailed characters guides including their voice together with setting information. Every final choice about the story is entirely mine.
I also employ a human editor who is fully involved in every book. AI can't replace that partnership, just like it can't replace my own judgment as the writer. I use it because it’s helpful, sometimes it catches something I missed or sparks a fresh angle and other times it gets things completely wrong.
I’d rather just be upfront about it. It's a tool I choose to use to shape stories, not something doing the writing for me.