In the Shadows of the Blitz

London, September 1940. While the Battle of Britain rages overhead and bombing begins to transform the capital, DCI Frank Merlin investigates the disappearance of Polish RAF pilot Ziggy Kilinski and a wave of looting made possible by the destruction. At the same time Soviet agents have been ordered to recover gold that disappeared from Stalin’s control, drawing airmen, émigrés, spies, academics and gangsters into the same widening investigation.

Originally published as Stalin’s Gold, the second Merlin novel ranges beyond London into the political history that created the treasure trail, from Stalin’s Soviet Union to pre-war Poland and the Spanish Civil War. Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria appear under their historical identities, but the missing gold conspiracy and the detective plot are fictional. The Battle of Britain, Blitz and wartime Polish presence in Britain provide the documented setting.