The Trader Group's Roman Holiday

The Trader Group's Roman Holiday is award winning reporter Mark Bishop's 27th book and the latest in the long running series involving the Derby 9 and the Trader Ad girls.
The Derby 9 are a group of die-hard Derby County fans who are also printers at the Trader Newspaper Group, which is based in the East Midlands. The Ad girls are responsible for selling all the advertising for the free newspapers and now there are 409 Ad girls all working on the 22 editions which are located in the East and West Midlands, The East of England, Mercia and the North. The UK's first and only free newspaper group almost went out of existence in 1980 until a mysterious millionairess, by the name of Mrs Hanley, arrived at the 11th hour to financially rescue the company. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength under her ownership. But that's not to say without plenty of incident, drama, skullduggery and general mayhem along the way, over the last 10 years or so. Every year, the Trader staff, and the four directors, are treated to a foreign 'works outing.' Or holiday, for a better word. Last year it was Monte-Carlo where Mrs Hanley eventually agreed to marry Dave Wilde, the Controller of the Trader Group. Now the year is 1991. And the Trader Group are off to Rome, the eternal city. This year, there is no fashion show, because of the increasing high cost, so it's a three-day-free-pass for all the Ad Girls and the Derby 9. What follows is another comedy caper with real-life dialogue and banter, plus time for the Derby 9 to take in a big football match between Roma v AC Milan at the Olimpico Stadium. One of the directors, Bruce Hallyday shows his moves at the hotel disco with some spectacular break dancing, although that's not all he breaks! While a trip to the Trevi Fountain for the Ad Girls ends in drama and Dave Wilde delivers an emotional speech at the Saturday night banquet to the Trader staff, vowing to change his character. An open top bus parade, the next day, tops off perfectly what has been a wonderful break in one of the world's most famous cities, followed by a special picnic in the Villa Borghese Park.
It's another book from Mark Bishop in the popular Derby 9 series which should prove a real page turner for every reader!