Pel And The Promised Land (17) (Inspector Pel) - Softcover

Hebden, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1842329065 ISBN 13: 9781842329061

Publisher: House of Stratus, 2008

Synopsis

The twelfth title in the Inspector Pel Mystery series, this is a story of Pel's beloved Burgundy as the Promised Land. Fires are breaking out all over the province, from small houses to woodland and when a local farmer's flock of sheep is poisoned, a tray of valuable rings stolen from a local jewellers, and the body of a woman is found, Inspector Pel has his work cut out in this exhilarating murder mystery.

About this title

About the Author:

John Harris, who also wrote under the pen names of 'Mark Hebden' and 'Max Hennessy', was born in 1916. He authored the best-selling and later filmed 'The Sea Shall Not Have Them', a story of survival and rescue from World War II which continues to be periodically screened on TV. He was a sailor, an airman, a journalist, a travel courier, a cartoonist and a history teacher. During the War Harris managed to serve with two air forces and two navies. After turning to full-time writing, he wrote adventure stories, war novels, political thrillers, and also created a sequence of crime novels around the quirky French Chief Inspector Pel, centred primarily in Burgundy, but occasionally Paris and elsewhere. Harris was unusually versatile and wide ranging as an author. Epics such as 'China Seas', which deals with human tragedy, war and revolution in an authentic historical setting, and the three trilogies written under the pseudonym Max Hennessy - one of which, the Kelly Maguire series commencing with 'Lion at Sea' is reckoned to be amongst the finest modern war-at-sea stories written - along with African adventure novels, wide-ranging crime, mysteries and historical fiction, all guarantee a whole library of diverse and entertaining reading full of dry wit and gripping prose.

From Publishers Weekly:

The French atmosphere is as thick as Brie as land speculators threaten the previously untouched province of Burgundy in Hebden's 16th mystery to feature the long-suffering Chief Inspector Pel ( Pel and the Party Spirit , et al.). A rash of arsons, primarily on restricted waterfront property that can then be reclassified for development, sparks Pel's usual blotter of sheep poisonings and smugglings. A Scotland Yard colleague warns him of Welsh bully boys who left behind shifty English land deals for sunny France, and of Carmen Vlaxi, an expatriate Spanish gangster. The murder of the Welsh wife of an impoverished baron draws Pel to the heart of the historic area being torched and into the middle of a wonderfully addled family. Dashing officer Brochard's investigation of another case and his romance with a smuggler's daughter provide vital clues in Pel's paper chase of bureaucratic fiddling that finally leads to the surprise killer. This tale of dour Pel and his merry men, somewhat lacking Hebden's usual seamless flow, was among his last works; he died in 1991.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: House of Stratus
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1842329065
• ISBN 13: 9781842329061
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 222