Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard has just been given the job of guarding an American politician at a global economic summit taking place in London. It's 1933 and the world must deal with Germany's growing threat to world peace.
An amateur dowsing team is working the banks of the River Thames when they discover the body of a young woman with a roman coin stuffed in her mouth. The tides are rising and they have no choice but to remove the body from it's grave.
The case is given to Sandilands but his attention remains focused on the Senator Kingstone, especially when he recognizes the Senator's bodyguard. The identity of the young woman will force Joe to take a closer look at what is happening in London.
Ms. Cleverly has lived up to her name by cleverly weaving together two seemingly disparate events. The murder of a young ballet dancer and the attacks on the Senator are intricately woven into an exciting and engrossing story.
The character of Joe Sandilands is so well-written, he should take his place among the best fictional detectives. Smart, urbane, and discerning, Joe navigates the world he has chosen adeptly, solving the two cases while skillfully avoiding the traps laid out by those who want to change the course of history.
At dawn one morning in 1933, an amateur dowsing team
digging the banks of the Thames for precious metals
unearths the body of a young woman with a priceless gold
coin in her mouth and a missing toe. The case falls on
Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard Joe Sandilands's
turf, but he's been given another assignment and a very
high-profile one.
London is hosting a historic global economic conference to
try to solve the global Depression, and political tensions
are running very high, as very influential participants are
starting to take positions allied with or staunchly against
the rapidly militarizing Germany. Sandilands's job is to
protect and keep an eye on the visiting American senator
Cornelius Kingstone, right-hand man to President Roosevelt,
throughout the conference.
When a strange set of coincidences link the river bank body
to the senator, Joe realizes his assignment is much bigger
than he'd thought, and that Senator Kingstone is caught up
in a very dangerous game one that might cost not just one
but thousands of lives.
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