Ring of Terror is a mystery-suspense novel by the British crime writer Michael Gilbert, first published in the United Kingdom in 1995 by Hodder and Stoughton and in the United States by Carroll & Graf. It was Gilbert's 28th novel and the first of three featuring his final set of recurring characters, Luke Pagan and Joe Narrabone. Set in the reign of Edward VII, during the first decade of the 20th century, it was also the first of Gilbert's historical mysteries. Along with its fictional characters and situations, there are references to actual events of the time, such as the Siege of Sidney Street, and Winston Churchill plays a minor role as Home Secretary. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 [1] and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. [2]
The book's events take place in Gilbert's usual locale of London and, to a lesser degree, the English countryside. Luke and Joe are both country boys, one the son of a gamekeeper of a landed gentleman, the other the son of a poacher. Both are therefore expert at tracking and hunting for prey. Close friends in spite of their very different natures and levels of education, they have become London policemen at an early age. Because Luke has learned Russian and French and has an ear for other languages, he is soon recruited by various authorities to help in their battle against an increasing number of émigré anarchists, criminals, and terrorists now causing considerable problems in the metropolitan London area. By the end of the book Luke has been asked to join the recently formed MO5 (later renamed MI5), a counter-intelligence agency, and Joe, in spite of losing part of a leg to a terrorist's bomb, has secured a good job as a security guard.
From Publishers Weekly, which writes pre-publication reviews for the publishing industry and libraries:
Set more along the lines of a lean spy novel than a police procedural, veteran Gilbert's latest propels young Luke Pagan and Joe Narrabone of the Metropolitan Police into a web of complex geopolitics one year before the outbreak of WWI. As trouble-making Russian immigrants spread terror throughout Edwardian London... the two coppers track three suspected Russian revolutionaries, the Home Office seems to put politics over police work, even when the naked corpse of an immigrant bearing the notice "Let Authority beware" is found hanging in Victoria Park. Leave it to Gilbert to keep readers hooked while making his tale reverberate with all kinds of historical chords, including the invention of dynamite and the beginning of the modern intelligence agency. [3]
From Booklist:
As usual in Gilbert's always entertaining period mysteries, the atmosphere is palpable, the protagonist is admirable if just a bit naive, and the plot moves quickly and logically. Toss in a bit of sly humor, and one has a thoroughly enjoyable, intelligent crime novel. The conclusion lends itself to the hope of further Luke Pagan adventures. Wes Lukowsky [4]
Grigori Chkhartishvili, better known by his pen name Boris Akunin, is a Georgian-Russian writer residing in the United Kingdom. He is best known as a writer of historical fiction, specifically his Erast Fandorin detective novels. He is also an essayist and literary translator. Grigory Chkhartishvili has also written under pen names Anatoly Brusnikin, Anna Borisova, and Akunin-Chkhartishvili. His characters include Erast Fandorin, Nicholas Fandorin and Sister Pelagia.
Michael Francis Gilbert was an English solicitor and author of crime fiction.
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The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the most prestigious awards in the world of mystery writers, the Anthony Awards have helped boost the careers of many recipients.
Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens are fictional counter-intelligence agents created by the British mystery and thriller writer Michael Gilbert. The characters appear in 24 short stories, most of which first appeared in either the British magazine Argosy or the American Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The stories were collected in two anthologies, Game without Rules (1967) and Mr. Calder & Mr. Behrens (1982). One story, "Double, Double", was later republished in an Ellery Queen paperback. Many involve finding and dealing with British traitors or deeply embedded foreign agents; a few take place in Europe; one particularly grim one is set in World War II, during which Mr. Behrens is the bomb-maker in a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The characters also appeared in 16 BBC radio plays, largely based on the short stories.
The Babes in the Wood is a 2002 novel by British crime-writer Ruth Rendell. It is the 19th entry in the popular Inspector Wexford series, and is set, as usual, in Kingsmarkham. In 2003, it was selected by The New York Times as one of the top five crime novels of the year.
Peter Harmer Lovesey, also known by his pen name Peter Lear, is a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detective based in London, and Peter Diamond, a modern-day police detective in Bath.
Eliot Pattison is an American international lawyer, non-fiction author on the subject of international trade, and is best known as an award-winning mystery fiction novelist.
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Under the Beetle's Cellar, is a 1995 suspense novel by American author Mary Willis Walker, the second in her "Molly Cates" series.
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Close Quarters is the first novel by the British mystery writer Michael Gilbert. Published in England by Hodder and Stoughton in 1947, it did not appear in the United States until 1963. By then Gilbert's reputation had been firmly established in both countries and his regular American publisher for many years had been Harper & Brothers. Close Quarters, however, was published by Walker and Company, a less prestigious house. In it we are introduced to Chief Inspector Hazlerigg, who will go on to be a recurring character in a number of Gilbert's works throughout the next ten years. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Blood and Judgement is a police procedural novel by the British author Michael Gilbert. Published in England in 1959 as Blood and Judgement by Hodder and Stoughton and in the United States as Blood and Judgment by Harper & Brothers, it was Gilbert's tenth novel. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. It introduces his most notable series character, Patrick Petrella, as a young and already somewhat controversial Detective Sergeant working out of the fictional Q Division of the Metropolitan Police Area.
Fear to Tread is a mystery–crime thriller by the British mystery writer Michael Gilbert, first published in 1953 by Hodder and Stoughton in England and by Harper & Brothers in the United States. Set mostly in London, it was his seventh novel in six years and built upon the favourable reputation he had achieved earlier with the well-received Smallbone Deceased and Death Has Deep Roots. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. It is one of numerous stories and novels by Gilbert presenting a gritty, realistic depiction of organized gangs, frequently directed by a deeply concealed mastermind who is not unearthed until the final pages.
Anything for a Quiet Life and Other New Mystery Stories is a collection of nine short stories by the British writer Michael Gilbert published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1990 and in the United States by Carroll & Graf the same year. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. All nine stories had previously appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. All of them take place in a fictional English coastal town called Shackleton-on-Sea that is situated in the south of England not far from Brighton and Hove. In spite of Gilbert's usual low-key urbanity in his style, a number of them have an unexpected grimness about them. "Michael was an exceptionally fine storyteller, but he's hard to classify," said one of his British publishers after his death. "He's not a hard-boiled writer in the classic sense, but there is a hard edge to him, a feeling within his work that not all of society is rational, that virtue is not always rewarded.".
They Never Looked Inside is the second novel by the British mystery writer Michael Gilbert. It was published in England by Hodder and Stoughton in 1948 and in the United States by Harper & Brothers in 1949 as He Didn't Mind Danger. It was Gilbert's first publication in the States. It is also the second novel to feature Gilbert's earliest recurring character, Inspector Hazlerigg. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Mathematics of Murder: A Fearne & Bracknell Collection, is a collection of mystery short stories by the prominent British thriller writer Michael Gilbert, first published in the United Kingdom by Robert Hale in 2000 when Gilbert was 88 years old but still an active writer. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Doors Open, published by Hodder and Stoughton in England in 1949 and by Walker and Company in the United States in 1962, is the third novel by the British mystery and thriller writer Michael Gilbert. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. Like his first two books, it features Inspector Hazlerigg, although not in a major role. It is, in fact, a very diffuse book in terms of its characters. Angus McMann, who was the chief protagonist of Gilbert's previous book, They Never Looked Inside, is briefly mentioned on the first page and makes a later appearance as a minor character. Hazlerigg does not appear until page 24 and thereafter only at intervals throughout the book. There are, in actuality, three other protagonists who, along with Hazlerigg, share the role of driving the narrative. One is Noel Anthony Pontarlier Rumbold ("Nap"), a junior solicitor in his father's London firm. Nap had spent four months on dangerous missions with the French maquis in occupied France during the war and is, apparently, still a Lieutenant-Colonel, D.S.O. A few years later he will be a main character in Gilbert's well-received novel Death Has Deep Roots. Patrick (Paddy) Yeatman-Carter, an acquaintance of Nap's, is another lead character, as is his uncle, Alfred Lord Cedarbrook, a man with an astonishing background, much sought after by both the Foreign Office and the War Office during WWII and now, apparently, still affiliated with the Secret Service. As well as being a linguist, explorer, soldier, and diplomat, he also has a law degree. All three of them, to one degree or another, carry out private investigations, sometimes with the backing of Hazlerigg, sometimes not.
Into Battle is a mystery-suspense novel by the British crime writer Michael Gilbert, first published by Robert Hale in England in 1997 and by Carroll & Graf in the United States in 1997. It was Gilbert's 29th novel and the second of three featuring his final set of recurring characters, Luke Pagan and Joe Narrabone. Set near the beginning of World War I, it has, along with its fictional characters and situations, references to actual events of the time, and a number of actual historical personages also play roles in the book. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.