How the voice of “Cashier Number Three” turned to crime in Penzance

You have heard him without ever knowing it. The man behind “Cashier Number Three, Please” is now writing crime thrillers, and he is bringing his story to a Penzance gallery.

Crime writing comes to the Penzance Literary Festival Fringe

Businessman turned author Terry Green is appearing at the Penzance Literary Festival Fringe with a talk called “The Confessions of a Crime Thriller Writer”. It runs on Monday, July 6 from 12noon to 1pm at Redwing Gallery, 32 Alverton Street.

The session is a chance to hear about the twists and turns of Terry’s new life of crime, and to find out more about his newly-published novel Dangerous Art and his debut, Redline. Both follow the adventures of his hero Jake Elderfield, a management accountant turned corporate fire-fighter.

From queue-busting to crime fiction

Terry is the voice of “Cashier Number Three, Please”, and he is also the man who introduced the British habit of queueing to more than 40 countries. His career has taken him from cars to queue-busting, and from customer service to celebrity chefs.

He was already a twice-published business author when, in 2025, he turned to crime writing. “One reader said my business book, You’re Next, read like a thriller,” he said. “So it got me thinking, why not?!”

Terry is now a crime thriller writer, author speaker and member of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Sports cars, Prague and Burgh Island

Redline, the first in the series, is set in the high octane world of sports cars. The thriller has picked up a host of five-star reviews and has been described as “a race from start to finish”. Dangerous Art is the high-suspense sequel.

“I am delighted to be embarking on a series of talks and book signings to launch Dangerous Art,” Terry said. “And I am even more delighted to have been included in the Penzance Literary Festival Fringe at the Redwing Gallery.”

He added that the talk would let readers hear more about the path that led him to crime writing, along with the adventures of Jake Elderfield. “They will also discover how Dangerous Art is influenced by some of my favourite places,” he said. The action starts at the Art Deco Hotel Burgh Island off the south coast of Devon, moves to Prague, then returns to Devon, where Terry now lives.