BY day he writes about local sport, but by night Neil Bonnar has a more thrilling literary life.

For the head of sport at the Bury Times and Radcliffe Times has just published his first crime thriller.

For three years, Neil spent his days involved with the borough’s football and cricket matters, and his nights immersed in a world of spies, assassins, scientists and gangsters.

Two Minds To Die tells the story of Marcus Fieldman, a small-time journalist who meets a man who thinks and acts exactly like him in every way — his mind clone — and instantly finds his life in danger.

To stay alive, and find out why he has a mind clone, he must take on a ruthless organisation, and in so doing, discovers that an old, deeply-buried family secret lies at the heart of the mystery.

Neil, aged 48, lives in Radcliffe with his wife Judith, aged 44, his 18-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and his son, Andrew, aged 15.

He covered Bury FC for 10 years for The Bolton News, where he is also head of sport, and was brought up in Unsworth.

What started as a challenge quickly became an obsession. “I’d be up all night working on it sometimes, I couldn’t let it go,” said the former pupil of Parr Lane County Primary and Unsworth Comprehensive.

“I got hooked on the plot and the characters and I couldn’t wait to get back to them and move the story on.

“I’ve got to be honest, I quite miss the characters since I finished writing it. I’ve had some fantastic reaction to the book, including being asked whether there will be a follow-up which, I must admit, would be tempting.”

But when it came to getting the book published, Neil found that even as a professional writer, the hurdles were demoralising. “Traditional publishers have the double whammy of self-publishing and the global recession to contend with,” he said. “Many publishers have gone out of business and those who are left only publish novels by people guaranteed to sell, which is existing bestsellers and celebrities. For newcomers, it’s a one-in-a million chance.

“The traditional publishing route is a very time consuming and costly exercise. I spent 18 months sending manuscripts off to three of the established publishers, followed their rules, and didn’t even get a reply.

“I got ignored and gave up.”

It was only when his wife enrolled him on a writing course that Neil’s interest in publishing the book was rekindled. He entered an international competition organised by the Association of Children’s Writers and out of more than 6,000 entries submitted worldwide he came second.

Neil decided to go down the rapidly expanding e-book route where readers download books on to Kindles, computers and all manner of digital appliances, including mobile phones.

To his surprise, complete strangers started to download the book and send him positive feedback.

“It’s amazing that people are taking the time and effort to download and read it,” he says.

“People are giving responses on social networking sites that have absolutely blown me away.”

The book is available to download on Amazon for £1.03, or by visiting neilbonnarbooks.com