A long forgotten book conceals a dangerous secret.
James Faraday is about to turn eighty and his daughter has organised a gathering of friends and family at Woodford Grange to celebrate the big day. There will be a marquee in the garden, plenty of food and drink, and a huge stack of birthday presents. One particular gift, however, is proving difficult to track down.
For Simon Turing, who works in the local bookshop, it is just another order; an out of print book of wartime statistics. It only takes a day or two for him to locate a copy.
As soon as the book arrives, however, things start to go awry. The shop is burgled. Simon is knocked off his bike on his way to the Grange. And a worker at the estate suffers a fatal accident. Is it just a run of bad luck or are more sinister forces at work?
Simon is about to find out.
His dad was a legend. He doesn't have a clue.
Everyone has heard of the Stiletto, the infamous assassin who strikes without warning. He has been running rings around the police for years. But nobody has the slightest idea who he really is.
Eric Primrose has more important concerns. He is about to get married and there is a baby on the way. A chance meeting with his dad up in London puts a spanner in the works, however, when his father accidentally chokes to death on an olive. Jonathan Primrose, it transpires, is not the dull businessman Eric has always believed him to be. In fact, he is the Stiletto and his premature death has wrong-footed a whole host of sinister forces. The veteran hit man was midway through an assignment and it looks like Eric may have to step in and complete the job.
Someone has mistaken him for his father and, unless Eric does exactly as he is told, he may never see his fiancée or his unborn child again…
"I've been a scoundrel, a thief, a blackmailer and a whore, but never a murderer. Until now..." The year is 1929. As the world teeters on the brink of a global recession, Bletchley Park plays host to a rather special event. MI5 is celebrating its twentieth anniversary and a select band of former and current employees are gathering for a weekend of music, dance and heavy drinking. Among them is Sir Hilary Manningham-Butler, a middle aged woman whose entire adult life has been spent masquerading as a man. She doesn't know why she has been invited - it is many years since she left the secret service - but it is clear she is not the only one with things to hide. And when one of the other guests threatens to expose her secret, the consequences could prove disastrous for everyone.
'You'll never get me up in one of those things. They're absolutely lethal.'
Seville, 1931. Six months after the loss of the British airship the R101, a German Zeppelin is coming in to land in Southern Spain.
Hilary Manningham-Butler is an MI5 operative eking out a pitiful existence on the Rock of Gibraltar. The offer of a job in the Americas provides a potential life line but there are strings attached. First she must prove her mettle to her masters in London and that means stepping on board the Richthofen before the airship leaves Seville.
A cache of secret documents has been stolen from Scotland Yard and the files must be recovered if British security is not to be severely compromised. Hilary must put her life on the line to discover the identity of the thief. But as the airship makes its way across the Atlantic towards Brazil it becomes clear that nobody on board is quite what they seem. And there is no guarantee that any of them will reach Rio de Janeiro alive...
