MARK ELLIS chats to Paul Burke about the latest Frank Merlin mystery DEAD IN THE WATER, wartime London, the American army in the UK, what makes good historical writing and the richest man in the world at the time Calouste Gulbenkian.
DEAD IN THE WATER: Summer, 1942. The Second World War rages on but Britain now faces the Nazi threat with America at its side.
In a bombed-out London swarming with gangsters and spies, DCI Frank Merlin continues his battle against rampant wartime crime. A mangled body is found in the Thames just as some items of priceless art go mysteriously missing. What sinister connection links the two?
Merlin and his team follow a twisting trail of secrets and lies as they investigate a baffling and deadly puzzle .
MARK ELLIS is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur. 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 World War II 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. Mark is author of the DCI Frank Merlin series, Mark is also a member of the Crime Writer's Association and Crime Cymru.
Recommendations:
Nigh and the City - Gerald Kersh. Film by Jules Dassin
A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel
The Accursed Kings - Maurice Druon
My Friend Maigret - Georges Simenon
(mentioned
Citizens - Simon Schama
Hereward the Wake - Charles Kingsley)
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Music courtesy of Southgate and Leigh
Crime Time
Paul Burke writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network. He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2022 .
Produced by Junkyard Dog
Crime Time
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