This book was formerly entitled Princes Gate
354 pages
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When a brilliant emigré scientist is killed by a hit-and-run driver and the body of an American embassy employee 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?
The Embassy Murders is dark political crime drama that is set in the now long distant historical era of the second world war. Sadly the questions that this book asks are the same ones that we should be asking today. Indeed they are probably the same questions that should have been asked through out all history.
Namely, why do we treat people with power differently to those without power, especially when it comes to enforcing the law. Same as it ever was then. And during the early years of the Second World War the American ambassador to London had power and influence aplenty.
Two lowly British employees of the American Embassy are murdered. Is it politically or criminally motivated? The answers are not what you think they are. Is it irrelevant enough to sweep under the carpet? If it is hidden for the benefit of our betters, are they really our betters?
What is more important, the lives of a couple of nobodies or getting the most powerful nation in the world to fight on your side in the war? If you turn a blind eye, will it work out in the end? or could you live with the injustice. Is it a black and white issue or is it a grey area balancing act.
The author weaves these themes wonderfully throughout his narrative. We cheer our hero Merlin on through the jungle of political interference and bureaucracy not to mention gangs of thugs, pimps and pornographers. Merlin is a veteran of the Great War with Spanish heritage. He knows when you fight for the little people you fight for what is right. What is the point of winning a war if in doing so you lose the soul of a country.
The author does a bang up job of placing the reader in war torn London of blackouts and violent crime. For what better time to commit crime than in a blacked out city, with the best part of the police called up for active service and a population who are more concerned with bombing raids than burglaries. It's a perfect storm for the Capital's felonry. In addition the backdrop of the developing political situation is set out at a perfect pitch. There are little clues in the background of the ongoing Chamberlain/Churchill, appeasement/fight duel going on in society. Also setting the scene are a number of cameos of personalities and locations synonymous with that period. All in all the author creates a fitting landscape into which his characters and the plot is set.
Merlin puts together, as best he can, a motley crew to chase down leads and bang on doors. He follows the twist and turns through the dark alleyways of London, while at the same time doggedly pursuing leads in the gilded halls of the rich and powerful.
If you enjoy your history, especially WW2 and you enjoy your murder mysteries, this is a very good book that will keep you entertained and questioning from begining to end.
People need beer to lubricate their dreams and drown their fears.
Merlin had met Mrs Gatehouse several times. A formidable lady in a formidable body.
However unlikely it may be, we don’t want the murder of an insignificant girl to queer the pitch in any way, do we?” Merlin could not help visibly bridling at this. “‘Insignificant’, sir? Are you saying you don’t want me properly to investigate the murders of ‘insignificant’ people while the war’s on?”
He still found it hard to believe that business life continued almost normally with the spectre of war, death and destruction looming larger every day, but it did. The Stock Market was as active as ever, while cargoes of oil, minerals, rubber and tea, moving largely without interference as yet over the oceans of the world, were traded freely in the commodity markets of the City. The factories of the Midlands continued to manufacture everything from cars to pots and pans. Cinemas, having been briefly closed at the outbreak of war, had reopened. Tea and cakes were still freely available at Lyons Corner Houses and cafés everywhere. People were dying natural deaths and being buried, marriages were being celebrated and, with or without benefit of the latter, babies were still being conceived. And, as he knew well, ordinary people continued to commit ordinary crimes, regardless of the latest news from Poland or France.
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Mark Ellis is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur.
He is the creator of DCI Frank Merlin, an Anglo-Spanish police detective operating in World War 2 London. His books treat the reader to a vivid portrait of London during the war skilfully blended with gripping plots, political intrigue and a charismatic protagonist.
Mark grew up under the shadow of his parents’ experience of the Second World War. His father served in the wartime navy and died a young man. His mother told him stories of watching the heavy bombardment of Swansea from the safe vantage point of a hill in Llanelli, and of attending tea dances in wartime London under the bombs and doodlebugs.
In consequence Mark has always been fascinated by WW2 and in particular the Home Front and the fact that while the nation was engaged in a heroic endeavour, crime flourished. Murder, robbery, theft and rape were rife and the Blitz provided scope for widespread looting.
This was an intriguing, harsh and cruel world. This is the world of DCI Frank Merlin.
Mark Ellis’ books regularly appear in the Kindle bestseller charts.
He is published by Headline Accent, an imprint of Headline.
He is a member of Crime Cymru, the Welsh crime writing collective, and of the Crime Writers Association (CWA).
His third book, Merlin at War, was on the CWA Historical Dagger Longlist in 2018.
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