'A real page-turner...juicy enough to devour in one sitting, you'll immediately want to order the next in the series.' DAILY MAIL
'Detective fiction at its best and a real treat' PHIL CRAIG

The first instalment in the Frank Merlin series. Previously published as Prince's Gate.

When a brilliant emigré scientist is killed by a hit-and-run driver and the body of an American embassy is washed up in the Thames, DCI Frank Merlin and his team are called to investigate.

Merlin's investigations soon ruffle feathers at the Foreign Office - the American ambassador, Joseph Kennedy, is a well-known supporter of appeasement, and has gained many powerful and influential friends in the pursuit of a negotiated peace settlement with Hitler.

The death of yet another embassy employee leads Merlin deep into the seedier quarters of wartime London, until his investigations are hampered by interfering superiors fearful of disrupting international relations. As Merlin is drawn into a web of secrets, what will the truth cost him - and Britain?

PRAISE FOR THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DCI FRANK MERLIN SERIES:

'This is to my shame the first Mark Ellis book I've read. If the others evoke a vanished London so impressively, are graced with such complex plots and deep characterisation, and, above all, are written so well I shall have to read them all.' THE TIMES

'Masterly . . . compelling . . . one of the most attractive characters to emerge in recent detective-thriller fiction' ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Against the backdrop of Blitz-hit London, this stylish thriller sees Scotland Yard's Frank Merlin investigate a tangled conspiracy' SUNDAY MIRROR

'A richly atmospheric, authentic, and suspenseful detective series' JOSEPH FINDER, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Unputdownable' ROBERT LYMAN

'An intriguing, masterly juggling of an intricate plot and an enviable command of detail.' JOHN LAWTON

'Extraordinarily atmospheric and compelling...a wonderfully intelligent and complex story' CHRIS LLOYD, HWA Gold Crown Award winner.

'...historical noir at its best. Mark Ellis's talents as a writer are many; finely embroidered plotting, a meticulously researched historical context and place, and rounded characters whose lives and capers become real for a reader' GARY DONNELLY

'An atmospheric, compelling evocation of war-torn London in the wake of the Blitz, where DCI Frank Merlin fights against a tidal wave of crime' GEOFFREY WANSELL, Crime and Thriller Reviewer, DAILY MAIL
'A historically astute, skilfully developed crime drama.' KIRKUS REVIEWS