An old woman is beaten to death. A young woman disappears. Taken on to investigate, private detective Frank Sterling is plunged into a desperate and unconventional flight across eastern England and a race against time. Who are his pursuers, and what secret from the distant past are they trying to suppress? From the gentle landscape of Suffolk to the banks of the Thames and back to his native Kent, Sterling is repeatedly faced not only with challenges, but real danger. And with help to solve his second major case from some unexpected sources, he has to confront his own lazy attitudes in an...

When Frank Sterling sets up on his own account as a private detective, his first client, the enigmatic Gloria Etchingham, asks him to investigate a curious line of text and numbers among her disappeared husband's papers. The mystery takes him on a journey to Ypres and the Flanders battlefields of the Great War. A series of further clues, and the race to solve them, lead to murder and kidnapping against a backdrop of political extremism and personal betrayal. Is Keith Etchingham alive or dead? Who are the men pursuing Sterling ? What is the real reason for his involvement? In finding all the...

When Frank Sterling is summoned to a behind-the-times college of further education in sleepy Southwood, he has no idea what to expect. The newly appointed college principal asks him to investigate irregularities and 'stir things up'. As he gets more embroiled in shady seaside goings-on he discovers an intricate web of criminality. Amidst danger and a growing body count, Sterling has to get to grips with the most lurid case of his short private detective career.