David Coubrough founded the specialist hospitality firm Portfolio Recruitment in the 1980s and twice sold it to public companies, on the second occasion becoming chief executive of the PLC. He is on the board of governors of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and is a past chairman of Bespoke Hotels and the Castle Hotel at Taunton. He co-owns the Beehive pub and restaurant in Berkshire and has written two novels. Death in Deia is the second.