First published as Time of Flight under A. C. Koning. May 1931. For blind First World War veteran Frederick Rowlands, the craze for flying holds little interest - after all, he is unlikely ever to set foot in an aeroplane himself. However, a chance meeting with a famous flier draws Rowlands into the glamorous, and dangerous, world of aviation. When a body is discovered in one of the hangars at Hendon aerodrome, he finds himself buffeted by a turbulent mix of jealousy, betrayal and murder.
First published as Murder in Perspective under Keith Miles. Chasing his dream of a glittering architectural career, Merlin Richards has left the Welsh valleys for the Arizona desert, propelled by a handwritten note from the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright. Richards arrives at the Arizona Biltmore hotel, where he meets a beautiful young designer named Rosa Lustig. Like every man in her circle, Merlin is captivated by Rosa but soon finds himself the prime suspect in her murder. Jealous suitors, envious workers, and the cynical police are all convinced that Richards is the killer. As he begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, what he builds is not the impressive edifice he came to learn about, but a defence that will imprison a murderer.
First published as End of Term under A. C. Koning. Cambridge, 1935. Frederick Rowlands, blind war veteran, is happily married to his wife Edith. The couple are attending an event at St Gertrude's College when they hear about the suspicious death of a research student. Fred was one of the last people to see the student alive and consequently he becomes pivotal to uncovering the truth. While on the hunt to identify the killer, Fred is shocked to learn of the hidden secrets of this seemingly idyllic city. When another death occurs under suspicious circumstances, Fred must act quickly to save the reputation of St Gertrude's before it is too late .
First published as Twist of Fate under A. C. Koning. Summer, 1937. Fred Rowland's peaceful holiday is Cornwall is derailed when a fellow hotel guest and film star is found dead. Fred soon learns that this death took place under suspicious circumstances and finds himself tied up in the police investigation. When his old flame, Secret Service agent Iris Barnes arrives, it becomes clear that this murder has links to the political turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. Fred and Iris begin to follow the trail of Republican revolutionaries in Barcelona. As they pin together events, they realise that the murder may have been connected to the treacherous trail they embarked upon in Barcelona. As Europe inches closer towards international conflict, will Fred and Iris make it out of Spain alive?
Spring, 1941. The Second World War has entered a dangerous phase, with British ships being torpedoed in the Atlantic and nightly bombing raids on major ports. At Bletchley Park, top secret home of the nation's code-breakers, the race is on to crack the German Enigma code and thus prevent further naval and military losses. This endeavour is suddenly very close to home for Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of the Great War, when his daughter, Margaret, who works at 'the Park' as a cryptographer, is arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets to the enemy. Then a young woman is found murdered, and Rowlands is drawn into a deadly battle of wits where he must decode a series of clues that will lead him to the killer and enable him to discover the real traitor at Bletchley Park.
First published as Game of Chance under A. C. Koning. 1929. Blinded war veteran Frederick Rowlands has escaped the bustle of London to establish a secure life for himself and his family in the countryside. But everything is about to change when an old friend, Chief Inspector Douglas, asks for his assistance in tracking down the killer of a beautiful dancer. That there is a link between the murder and St Dunstan's, the institute for blind ex-servicemen of which Rowlands himself is a member, is only one of the puzzling features of the case. Transported back into the whirl of London in order to unravel the mystery surrounding the dead woman, the Blind Detective is caught up in a deadly game of chance. A series of breathtaking twists and turns force him to confront his past, and to risk everything - including own life - in the process.
Jim Eldridge, author of the Museum Mysteries, turns his pen to Wartime London's grandest hotels.October 1940. The Blitz bombing raids continue mercilessly, but when the body of a kitchen porter from Claridge's hotel is found, it is clear that he has not been the victim of a blast: he was strangled. Detective Chief Inspector Coburg has to find out exactly who he was, and what he was doing at Claridge's under a false identity. Armed with those facts, he might get an insight into why he was killed, and by whom.But the investigation is complicated by the fact that so many of the hotel's residents are exiled European royalty. Clandestine affairs, furtive goings-on and conspiracies against the government: Coburg must tread very lightly indeed .
It is 1939 and the Second World War looms ever closer. Blind war veteran, Frederick Rowlands, travels to the neutral territory of Ireland at the behest of Celia Swift, whose husband, Edward Swift, Lord Castleford, has been receiving mysterious death threats. When a body is discovered, Castleford finds himself being accused of a murder he did not commit. As Castleford's trial begins, Rowlands must fight to save his friend's reputation - and his neck from the gallows. But will the Blind Detective identify the true killer in time, or will it be too late? In the latest instalment of Christina Koning's acclaimed Blind Detective series, a country teeters on the knife-edge of war while a man's life also hangs in the balance .
First published as Saint's Rest under Keith Miles. Chicago, 1931. While the Great Depression has tightened its grip on the world, there are still some who have the means to make their dreams a reality. One of these men is Hobart St John, who wants a mansion in the suburb of Oak Park. For young Welsh architect Merlin Richards, the opportunity to work on the house is an answer to his prayer. But Richards' elation soon turns to confusion and fear. A body has been found on site hanging from a rafter. The authorities dismiss it as suicide but how can that be the case when his hands were tied behind his back? Richards' dream assignment is fast becoming a nightmare, and he realises that the answers he wants might cost him his life.
Stories of death and villainy will always hold us in their grim but thrilling grip. In Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Barnet the chill is brought close to home as each chapter investigates the dark side of humanity in cases of murder, deceit and pure malice committed over the centuries in this area of north London. For this journey into the sinister side of the past, Nick Papadimitriou has chosen over 20 notorious cases that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. Among the crimes he recalls are Elizabethan murders, highway robbery on Finchley Common, the violence of the Black-Hand Gang in Victorian times, the famous East Finchley Baby Murder of 1903, the Hendon Wine Shop Murder of 1919, the Edgware girl who was thrown under a tube train in 1939, and the shocking execution of murderer Daniel Raven in 1949.The human dramas Nick Papadimitriou describes are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. His grisly chronicle of the hidden history of Barnet will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the dark side of human nature.
