JOHN LAWTON

A gripping, meticulously researched and richly detailed historical thriller moving from London during the Blitz, to divided post-war Berlin.John Holderness, known to most as Wilderness, comes of age during World War II in Stepney, breaking in to houses with his grandfather. After the war, Wilderness is recruited as MI5s resident cat burglar and finds himself in Berlin, involved with schemes in the booming black market that put both him and his relationships in danger. In 1963 it is a most unusual and lucrative request that persuades Wilderness to return - to smuggle someone under the Berlin Wall and out of East Germany. But this final scheme may prove to be one challenge too far...

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.Vienna, 1934. Ten-year-old cello prodigy Meret Voytek becomes a pupil of concert pianist Viktor Rosen, a Jew in exile from Germany.The Isle of Man, 1940. An interned Hungarian physicist is recruited for the Manhattan Project in Los Alomos, building the atom bomb for the Americans.Auschwitz, 1944. Meret is imprisoned but is saved from certain death to play the cello in the camp orchestra. She is playing for her life.London, 1948. Viktor Rosen wants to relinquish his Communist Party membership after thirty years. His comrade and friend reminds him that he committed for life...These seemingly unconnected strands all collide forcefully with a brazen murder on a London Underground platform, revealing an intricate web of secrecy and deception which Detective Frederick Troy must untangle.

Named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War, the Profumo Affair was the biggest British political scandal of 1963. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy, followed by his lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of Profumo and damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillans government.Here, John Lawton explores how the scandal evolved and the effect it had upon the population of an increasingly liberated Britain. Unholy Joy went on to become the basis for a novel. A Little White Death has its roots in the Profumo affair, the correspondences will be apparent to the reader... but the buds and leaves are Lawtons fiction. This kindle edition includes an extract from A Little White Death.

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack - Daily TelegraphThe first book in John Lawtons Inspector Troy series, selected by Time magazine as one of Six Detective Series to Savour alongside Michael Connelly and Donna Leon.The Blitz, London, 1944.As the Luftwaffe make their last desperate assault on the city, Londoners take to the shelters once again and eagerly await the signal for D-Day. In the East End children lead police to a charred, dismembered corpse buried in a bombsite. The victim is German and it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary murder. For Russian emigre Detective-Sergeant Troy it is the start of a manhunt which will lead him into a world of military intelligence and corruption in high places; a manhunt in which Troy is both the hunter and the hunted.

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. 1959.An old flame has returned to Troys life: Kitty Stilton, now wife of an American presidential hopeful, has come back to London, and with her, an unwelcome guest.Private eye Joey Rork has been hired to make sure Kittys amorous liaisons dont ruin her husbands political career. But before Rork can dig any dirt, he meets a gruesome end...But he isnt the only one, and with the body-count mounting is it possible that the blood trail leads back to Troys police force and into his own forgotten past?

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. 1963.England is a country set to explode but Troy, now Britains most senior police detective, is fighting his own battle against ill-health. While he is on medical leave, the Yard brings charges against an acquaintance of his, a hedonistic doctor with a penchant for voyeurism and young women, two of whom just happen to be sleeping with a senior man at the Foreign Office as well as a KGB agent.But on the eve of the verdict a curious double case of suicide drags Troy back into active duty. Beyond bedroom acrobatics, the secret affairs now stretch to double crosses and deals in the halls of power, not to mention murder.

Its London, the swinging sixties, and by rights MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, in the wake of an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness has been posted to remote northern Finland in a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored by his work, with nothing to spy on, Wilderness finds another way to make money: smuggling vodka across the border into the USSR. He strikes a deal with old KGB pal Kostya, who explains to him there is a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union - but there is something fishy about Kostyas sudden appearance in Finland and intelligence from London points to a connection to cobalt mining in the region, a critical component in the casing of the atomic bomb. Wildernesss posting is getting more interesting by the minute, but more dangerous too.Moving from the no-mans-land of Cold War Finland to the wild days of the Prague Spring, and populated by old friends (including Inspector Troy) and old enemies alike, Hammer to Fall is a gripping tale of deception and skulduggery, of art and politics, a page-turning story of the always riveting life of the British spy.

1963. While London is beginning to swing, George Horsfield has settled into a stultifying routine - pushing paperwork around at the War Office on behalf of the fading British Empire, then catching the 5.27 home from Waterloo for twin beds and Ovaltine. Until a case of mistaken identity leads him into a world of Russian spies, cash-stuffed envelopes and call girls who arent what they seem...This elegant short story, imbued with the mordant wit and seamless period detail that characterise John Lawtons work, shows once again why Lawtons up there with Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. Yes, hes that good. (The Sun)

A tumultuous novel about Americas loss of innocence in the late Sixties.Turner Raines is Mr Heartbreak. Everybody leaves him. They walk out, they run away... they die. When his oldest friend Mel Kissing dies with an ice pick through his skull, Raines picks up the thread and sets out to ask who? and why?But this is America in 1969 and one death is just a drop in the ocean. The USA is about to land a man on the moon and the Vietnam War is ripping the country to pieces, setting sons against fathers, fathers against sons. The Woodstock festival is in full swing and Norman Mailer is standing as candidate for Mayor of New York.Against this backdrop, Raines questions take him back to the childhood home he left in Texas, back to the battered remains of his youth... and as his memory unravels, America unravels with it.

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack (Daily Telegraph)The Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. 1941.After ten years spying for the Americans, Wolfgang Stahl disappears during a Berlin air raid. The Germans think hes dead. The British know hes not. But where is he? MI6 convince US Intelligence that Stahl will head for London, and so Captain Cal Cormack, a shy American aristocrat, is teamed with Chief Inspector Stilton of Stepney, fat, fifty and convivial. Between them they scour London, a city awash with spivs and refugees. When things start to go terribly wrong, ditched by MI6 and disowned by his embassy, Cal is introduced to his one last hope - Sergeant Troy of Scotland Yard...

A thrilling portrait of 1960s Berlin and Krushchevs Moscow, centring around the exchange of two spies - a Russian working for the KGB, and an unfortunate Englishman. Having shot someone in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Wilderness finds himself locked up with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go - although forever in Burne-Joness service. When the Russians started building the Berlin wall in 1961, two Unfortunate Englishmen were trapped on opposite sides. Geoffrey Masefield in the Lubyanka, and Bernard Alleyn (alias KGB Captain Leonid Liubimov) in Wormwood Scrubs. In 1965 there is a new plan. To exchange the prisoners, a swap upon Berlins bridge of spies. But, as ever, Joe has something on the side, just to make it interesting, just to make it profitable...

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack (Daily Telegraph), the Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. 1938.The Germans take Vienna without a shot being fired. Covering Austria for the English press is a young journalist named Rod Troy. Back home his younger brother joins the CID as a detective constable. Two years later tensions are rising and enemy aliens are rounded up in London for internment. In the midst of the chaos Londons most prominent rabbis are being picked off one by one and Troy must race to stop the killer.

ONE OF THE GUARDIANS BEST CRIME AND THRILLER TITLES OF 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE BARRY AWARD FOR BEST THRILLER 2024Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in Washington, D.C. with her second husband, but enviable dinner parties arent the only thing she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the Soviet Union. Charlie is surprised to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share. Two decades later, in 1969, Joe Wilderness is stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, held captive by the KGB, a chip in a game way above his pay grade - but his old friends Frank and Eddie are going to try to spring him out of the toughest prison in the world. All roads lead back to Berlin, and to the famous Bridge of Spies...Featuring crackling dialogue and brilliantly plotted Cold War intrigue, Moscow Exile is a gripping thriller populated by larger-than-life personalities in a Cold War plot that feels strangely in tune with our present.

A newest novel in the Inspector Troy series, a tale of Cold War spy dealings centred around Guy Burgess. For readers of John le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst.It is 1958. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, newly promoted after good service during Nikita Khrushchevs visit to Britain, is not looking forward to a Continental trip with his older brother, Rod. Rod was too vain to celebrate being fifty so instead takes his entire family on the Grand Tour for his fifty-first birthday: Paris, Siena, Florence, Vienna, Amsterdam. Restaurants, galleries and concert halls. But Frederick Troy never gets to Amsterdam. After a concert in Vienna he is approached by an old friend whom he has not seen for years - Guy Burgess, a spy for the Soviets, who says something extraordinary: I want to come home. Troy dumps the problem on MI5 who send an agent to debrief Burgess - but when the man is gunned down only yards from the embassy, the whole plan unravels with alarming speed and Troy finds himself a suspect.As he fights to prove his innocence, Troy discovers that Burgess is not the only ghost who has returned to haunt him...

1950. Chief Inspector Troy learns that his sergeant has been conducting an affair with the known mistress of infamous London racketeer Otto Ohnherz. Troy is immediately intrigued by the mysterious origins of Ohnherzs second-in-command, Jay Fabian, who is a major contributor to all three British political parties and claims to have survived the concentration camps, yet lacks any identification beyond his word. Why would a refugee be trying to buy influence? So begins a novel of swapped identities in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, each chapter adding a new layer of intrigue.With a twisting plotline, crackling dialogue and the return of beloved characters, Smoke and Embers is an exciting new addition to John Lawtons masterful canon of Cold War thrillers.

Written by a sublimely elegant historical novelist as addictive as crack- Daily TelegraphThe Inspector Troy series is perfect for fans of Le Carré, Philip Kerr and Alan Furst. London, 1956.Khrushchev and Bulganin, leaders of the Soviet Union, are in Britain on an official visit. Chief Inspector Troy is assigned to be Khrushchevs bodyguard and to spy on him. Soon after, a Royal Navy diver is found dead and mutilated beyond recognition in Portsmouth Harbour. What was he doing under the hull of Khrushchevs ship, and who sent him there? Meanwhile, cold-blooded killings have started to follow Troy wherever he goes. Is it possible that the executioner is a fellow policeman, or, worse still, an old friend?

Nos presenta las andanzas del sargento del Scotland Yard Frederick Troy. Este es el primer título de la serie dedicada a este investigador, en el Reino Unido tiene ya publicadas seis novelas. Es una novela de detectives ambientada en hechos históricos, mezcla ambas dimensiones. En A Oscuras (titulada en su versión original Black Out) Lawton hace la presentación de su personaje, una parte importante del texto lo dedica a ayudarnos a comprenderle desde el conocimiento de su familia, su infancia, de sus relaciones de adolescencia, etc. El esquema argumental se sale del esquema clásico de las novelas de detectives, pero tiene méritos suficientes para incluirla entre la obras policíacas. Londres, 1944, durante los ataques aéreos sobre Londres... Cuando la Luftwaffe realiza un último ataque desesperado sobre la ciudad, los londinenses corren hacia los refugios una vez más y aguardan ansiosos la señal de que ha llegado del día D. En el barrio del East End, unos niños conducen a la policía hacia un cadáver chamuscado y mutilado, enterrado entre los restos de una zona bombardeada. La víctima es un alemán, y pronto queda claro que no se trata de un asesinato normal y corriente. Para el sargento detective Troy, hijo de emigrantes rusos, será el inicio de la persecución de un hombre que le conducirá a un mundo de refugiados apátridas, espionaje militar y corrupción en las altas esferas. Una cacería en la que Troy es a la vez el cazador y la presa.

Londres, 1944, durante los ataques aéreos sobre Londres... Cuando la Luftwaffe realiza un último ataque desesperado sobre la ciudad, los londinenses corren hacia los refugios una vez más y aguardan ansiosos la señal de que ha llegado del dia D. En el barrio del East End, unos niños conducen a la policia hacia un cadaver chamuscado y mutilado, enterrado entre los restos de una zona bombardeada. La victima es un aleman, y pronto queda claro que no se trata de un asesinato normal y corriente. Para el sargento detective Troy, hijo de emigrantes rusos, sera el inicio de la persecucion de un hombre que le conducira a un mundo de refugiados apatridas, espionaje militar y corrupcion en las altas esferas. Una caceria en la que Troy es a la vez el cazador y la presa.