Roy Larner and Dean Rinaldi followed The Lion of London Bridge with a 1980s crime series. Book two lands 1 December, book three on 1 February 2027.
The two men who told the story of the Lion of London Bridge have gone back to 1980s South East London, and this time they have made it up.
Roy Larner became known internationally after the 2017 London Bridge attack, when he confronted the three attackers. His account of it was written by the ghostwriter Dean Rinaldi as The Lion of London Bridge, and the pair have now reunited for a series of crime novels, A Casuals Game. The first book came out on 1 September. The second, Old Ties: New Lies, is due on 1 December, and the third, Loose Ends, on 1 February 2027.
The story follows Johnny, a young man on the football terraces of the period who finds a lucrative loophole, and then finds that the money takes him somewhere he did not plan to go. Larner and Rinaldi answered our questions in writing. What follows is in their own words.
Why fiction, after a true story
Larner was asked what made him want to move from his own story into an invented one, and how much of what he saw ended up in Johnny.
“Through the process of creating the Lion of London Bridge, Dean and I became good friends. We would often talk about the 1980s, the casual culture and the characters that inhibited it and of course the criminality that existed around South London at that time. Those conversations eventually led Dean to suggest that we collaborate. Together we developed the outline for the story and began creating a cast of believable characters. While the setting, characters and storylines are fictional, they have been heavily inspired by true events and the world we knew. Anyone who was around terrace culture during that period will undoubtably recognise elements of it.
At the heart of the story, Johnny is working class man who wants more from life than having a few pounds left from his wages after the bills are paid. When an opportunity comes that could change his life, Johnny decides to take it. From there the story begins to unfold.”
What changed in the writing
One book was reported fact, the other is invented. Rinaldi, who wrote both, said the difference was that this time they were both drawing on the same well.
“I’m an accomplished ghostwriter and have written both fiction and non-fiction, but A Casuals Game was different. It was a project where Roy and I could both draw from our experiences and knowledge of the culture and the period, which brought a real authenticity to the writing. Having previously written for a member of the Kray family and former prolific villains, I had a unique perspective on the world that we were portraying. That experience, combined with Roy’s memories of the culture gave us plenty to draw on.
Most importantly though, I’ve enjoyed every minute of creating the initial three books in the series. We had a great time putting it together. It was fun!”
The loophole is real, and it belonged to someone
Johnny’s loophole drives the whole plot, so we asked whether it was based on an actual scam from the period. It was, and Rinaldi heard it first hand.
“Having interviewed many former criminals for my books, one guy told me about the lucrative loophole he discovered in the 1980s and milked it for over a decade. He claimed to have made over a million pounds before closing down the operation. Sadly, he passed away a few years ago. I never forgot how animated he became telling me his stories.”
The film, and who is in it
The Lion of London Bridge was optioned for film by Dougie Brimson, who wrote Green Street. Asked where that has got to, the pair would give one detail and no more.
“The Lion of London Bridge is moving forward with Leo Gregory in the lead role. We are unable to disclose any other information at the time… but its good, positive news!”
Six books, not three
Books one to three form a single arc, and the authors say the next three are already mapped out chapter by chapter, taking the characters further into the criminal underworld and again drawing on the interviews Rinaldi has collected over the years. They also say the first book became an Amazon best seller on its fourteenth day on sale.
The television ambition
The pair want A Casuals Game to run as a returning British drama or a film franchise in the mould of Rise of the Footsoldier. Rinaldi has written a treatment and says he is still polishing it before he takes it to the industry. What they do have, they say, is more than 30 messages of support from people in television, film, music and the media, including the actors Tamer Hassan, Ricci Harnett, Jason Maza and Ross McCall, Dougie Brimson, and the journalist Garry Bushell.
One of those messages turned into work. The authors say the actor Paul Spencer, named an award winner in 2025, read the opening chapter on the book’s website, got in touch, and is now producing audio and video versions of that chapter for nothing, because he wanted to be part of the project.
Where to read it
The first chapter of A Casuals Game is free to read on acasualsgame.com, which is also where the audio and video versions will appear. The series is on Facebook as A Casuals Game and on Instagram as acasualsgame. Old Ties: New Lies follows on 1 December and Loose Ends on 1 February 2027.
Sponsored feature for A Casuals Game, the crime series by Dean Rinaldi and Roy Larner.
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