From the two-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award and the German Crime Fiction Critix Circle Prize A missing two-year-old girl, an unidentified drowning victim, arson, and the threat of murder bring Homicide Squad Inspector Hal Challis of the Mornington Peninsula Police Force and his staff to Bushrangers Bay, an Australian seaside resort outside Melbourne. Allis not idyllic in this resort community—far from it. Cars are stolen and torched; letter boxes are burned; and the Kittyhawk airplane of an attractive aerial photographer suffers malicious damage.
An unidentified man is fished out of the sea with an anchor strapped to his waist. This sparks the beginning of a chilling series of shotgun killings. Challis finds some aerial possesion in the possession of his friend, Kitty, that link her to the murders.
This fourth volume in the comprehensive series “fills a gap in the existing narrative” of WWII’s Mediterranean air war (Journal of Military History). The fourth volume in this momentous series commences with the attacks on the Italian island fortress of Pantellaria, which led to its surrender and occupation achieved almost by air attack alone. The account continues with the ultimately successful, but at times very hard fought, invasions of Sicily and southern Italy as burgeoning Allied air power, now with full US involvement, increasingly dominated the skies overhead. The successive occupations of Sardinia and Corsica are also covered in detail. This is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in northwest France. With regards to the long-range tactical role of the Allied heavy bombers, only the period from May to October is examined, while they remained based in North Africa, with the narrative continuing in a future volume. This volume also delves into the story of “the soldiers’ air force.” Frequently overshadowed by more immediate newsworthy events elsewhere, the soldiers’ struggle was often of an equally Homeric nature. “No future publication on the Mediterranean air war will be credible without use of this series.” —Air Power History
This second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, historian Christopher Shores begins by exploring the 8th Army’s movements after Operation Crusader when they were forced back to the Gazala area in northeastern Libya, as well as their defeat in June, 1942, the loss of Tobruk, and the efforts of Allied air forces to protect their retreating troops. Shores continues with the heavy fighting that followed in the El Alamein region. This features the Western Desert Air Force and the arrival of the first Spitfires. The buildup of both army and air forces and the addition of new commanders on the ground aided the defeat of Rommel’s Deutsche Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa, after which came the Second Battle of El Alamein. With the arrival of the United States Army Air Force, the Allied air forces gained dominance over the Axis. Shores recounts the lengthy pursuit of the Italo-German forces right across Libya, including the capture of Tripoli and the breakthrough into Southern Tunisia. This allowed a linkup with other Allied forces in Tunisia (whose story appears in Volume 3). Included with the action are stories of some of the great fighter aces of the Desert campaign such as Jochen Marseille and Otto Schulz of the Luftwaffe, Franco Bordoni-Bisleri of the Regia Aeronautica and Neville Duke, Billy Drake, and “Eddie” Edwards of the Commonwealth air forces. Finally, Shores touches on the Allied and Axis night bombing offensives and the activities of the squadrons cooperating with the naval forces in the Mediterranean.
The real history behind the classic war movie and the men who plotted the daring escape from a Nazi POW camp. Between dusk and dawn on the night of March 24th–25th 1944, a small army of Allied soldiers crawled through tunnels in Germany in a covert operation the likes of which the Third Reich had never seen. The prison break from Stalag Luft III in eastern Germany was the largest of its kind in the Second World War. Seventy-nine Allied soldiers and airmen made it outside the wire—but only three made it outside Nazi Germany. Fifty were executed by the Gestapo. In this book Jonathan Vance tells the incredible story that was made famous by the 1963 film The Great Escape. It is a classic tale of prisoners and their wardens in a battle of wits and wills. The brilliantly conceived escape plan is overshadowed only by the colorful, daring (and sometimes very funny) crew who executed it—literally under the noses of German guards. From the men’s first days in Stalag Luft III and the forming of bonds among them, to the tunnel building, amazing escape, and eventual capture, Vance’s history is a vivid, compelling look at one of the greatest “exfiltration” missions of all time. “Shows the variety and depth of the men sent into harm’s way during World War II, something emphasized by the population of Stalag Luft III. Most of the Allied POWs were flyers, with all the technical, tactical and planning skills that profession requires. Such men are independent thinkers, craving open air and wide-open spaces, which meant that an obsession with escape was almost inevitable.” —John D. Gresham
The president's daughter has been kidnapped by the elusive and lethal Ghost Cell. Quest (Q) and Angela are in hot pursuit with vicious winds and blinding rain thwarting them at every turn. It's a desperate high stakes chase. But who is chasing whom? Are Q and Angela the hunters or the hunted?
“[A] vivid postwar environment that confers plausibility, ingenious plot twists that heighten the suspense and two stunning character studies that confound our facile presumptions about women who kill.” —The New York Times Book Review Rose and Antonia were WAAF plotters during World War II, enjoying independence, a fulfilling and challenging job, and all the fun of being two women on an RAF base. But peacetime is a disappointment. Rose’s war-hero husband has become violent, and Antonia, bored with her rich manufacturer husband, wants to move to America with her lover. A chance encounter in the street leads to a ruthless scheme, and if Rose doesn’t lose her nerve, they could get away with murder.
The enthralling third novel in the chronicle of the O'Malleys in the twentieth century. The fourth of the O'Malley chronicles is narrated by the ravishing Rosemarie, dedicated wife of our intrepid and trouble-prone hero, Chucky Cronin O'Malley. Destined to be compared to the Lanny Budd novels of Upton Sinclair and the Chicago novels of James T. Farrell, September Song follows the crazy O'Malley saga from Chucky's appointment as Ambassador to Germany by President Kennedy (the youngest Ambassador in history), to his resignation over his violent disagreement with President Johnson, to his in-your-face involvement in Selma, Alabama, the Chicago Democratic Convention, and the Vietnam War. Chucky can't stay out of trouble, and his loving and devoted wife Rosemarie is often, if not always, by his side. Raising a family and showing up at the hot trouble spots of the world seems to be Chucky's destiny. Greeley recalls the turbulent and history changing events of the 1960s with fondness and clarity. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
“If you've never read any of [Lovesey’s] 20-plus books, this wickedly clever, beautifully written story of a murderous clergyman who earns our sympathy while dramatically whittling down his flock should make you an instant convert.”—Chicago Tribune After years spent saving souls, Otis Joy, the rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Foxford, Wiltshire, has found a new calling: ending lives. His young French wife? Anaphylactic shock, what a shame. The bishop? Fell into a quarry. Tragic. It’s not Joy’s fault, really—not that he’s concerned about repentance or absolution these days. He just doesn’t want his other little secret—embezzling church funds to finance a fancy yacht—to be discovered. But when the husband of the new church secretary, Rachel Jansen, turns up dead, it isn’t long before the village starts to gossip and the local constable gets involved. As it turns out, God isn’t the only one who’s always watching.
Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs discovered in a room locked from the inside. Gone is the part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos ever rendered. Kenzo Matsushita, a young doctor who was first to discover the crime scene, feels compelled to assist his detective brother, who is in charge of the case. But Kenzo has a secret: he was Kinue’s lover, and soon his involvement in the investigation becomes as twisted and complex as the writhing snakes that once adorned Kinue’s torso. The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948; this is the first English translation.
