Gavin Lyall

Midnight Plus One

'The vortex of Caribbean politics made even more turbulent by one of the most compelling of contemporary storytellers' New York Times Flying charter cargoes around the Caribbean wasn't quite the same as flying in Korea, but it was still a living, and Carr had built up a solid reputation over the years, managing to keep his hands clean. But when he is almost brought down by mercenary pilots flying for the newly instated La Republica government, he realises it is inevitable that things will get messy. As both the new government and the FBI seek his services, Carr takes a job flying a camera plane for a major Hollywood movie in order to escape the conflict. It soon becomes apparent, however, that his new employers have more in mind than aerial shots.

Shooting Script

'A first-class piece of work' New York Times Book Review Major Harry Maxim, formerly of the SAS, is as surprised as anyone when he is hired by 10 Downing Street to assist in matters of defence and security. When there is a suspicious suicide at the Ministry of Defence, and a hand grenade thrown through the door of number 10, Major Maxim's military intelligence training is put to the test. It all seems to point towards Professor John Tyler, a nuclear strategist who will state Britain's case when Europe's think tank on Armageddon gathers in Luxembourg. The Secret Servant is the first novel in the Major Harry Maxim Series.

The Secret Servant

'An absorbingly and well-written book' New York Times Major Harry Maxim, ex-SAS and special adviser to number 10 Downing Street, is about to get drawn into conflict on an international scale. An English corporal, a cabinet convulsion in East Germany, and a double murder in a small West German town all seem to be connected by a dark secret from the past, and it's down to Harry Maxim to uncover before it's too late. The Conduct of Major Maxim is the second novel in the Major Harry Maxim Series. 'Gavin Lyall is one of the best writers of intelligent, macho, spy thrillers in the business' Spectator

The Conduct of Major Maxim

'Lyall at his fleet and fearful best' Chicago Tribune When Martin Fenwick – rich, respected, loved – is murdered, his bodyguard James Card goes on the hunt for his killers. His only clue, a small package wrapped in plain brown paper, will send Card on a relentless manhunt across international borders and into the clutches of death. Young, beautiful, and very much alive, Lois Fenwick is oddly without sorrow over her husband's death. David Fenwick, the surviving son, is determined to find his father's murderer, and will risk his own life to find them. Card is a man used to action, but now he must unearth the deadly secret that sent his boss on a rendezvous with a bullet.

Blame the Dead

Lewis Cane fought with the French Resistance during the Second World War and gained a justified reputation as a tough and resourceful man. So it's no great surprise when one of his ex-Resistance comrades, now a successful lawyer in the early 1960s in Paris employs him to escort a businessman from Brittany to Liechtenstein for a crucial meeting. There are just two problems: the man's associates don't want him to get there, and the police have a warrant out for the man's arrest on a charge of rape. For Cane, it becomes a desperate race across France, fighting against resourceful and ruthless adversaries and avoiding the forces of law and order every step of the way ...

'Cary is great with a gun and deadpan about danger' Spectator Bill Cary makes a precarious living flying aerial surveys over Lapland. When he's hired by a wealthy American hunter, Frederick Wells Homer, to fly into a prohibited part of Finland near the Soviet border, the job seems shady indeed, and when a major crook wants him to go on the hunt for Tsarist treasure, things get messy. With thugs and the Finnish Secret Service already on his tail, matters get worse when Homer's beautiful sister turns up to search for him, and Cary's fellow bush pilots start getting killed off in a series of suspicious accidents. Cary begins to realise that it may all stem from an incident in his wartime past. The Most Dangerous Game was shortlisted for the British Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award. 'A glorious tale, vivid in character and escapade' Book Week

The Most Dangerous Game

'Stirring period piece set in the anxious months before the outbreak of the First World War' Sunday Times With the shadow of the First World War looming ever closer, Britain is quietly relieved when Turkish bandits hold to ransom engineers working on a railway that threatened its oil interests in the Persian Gulf. Feigning help, the Foreign Office sends the notorious Lady Kelso, once the lover of the bandit's chief, with members of the fledgling Secret Service Bureau to serve as 'diplomatic protection'. Ambush, betrayal, murder and bombardment all ensue as there are others – German, Turkish and French – all honourably putting their own country's interests first.

All Honourable Men

"When I was younger," the Brigadier mused, "it seemed to me that we had the best Secret Service in the world. It never got mentioned in the newspapers [...] Only later did I realise that this was because we had no Secret Service at all." The year is 1912, and as political animosity rises and wars in South Africa and Greece rage, the dominoes of Europe feel ready to topple. The British Secret Service is beginning to form, and Captain Ranklin, a former Major, is lured into the world of reconnaissance after a demotion. Averse to the concept of espionage, Ranklin reluctantly joins the new Secret Service Bureau; exclusive, elite, but bound to secrecy and subterfuge. Paired with the rugged and morally dubious Conall O'Gilroy, Ranklin soon finds himself in over his head. A routine mission to apprehend a gold smuggler turns sour and the two are set on the trail of a notorious Irish anarchist. In pursuit, they uncover a plot that threatens to shatter the precarious state of peace in Europe, taking them to Germany, via France, and finally to Hungary in the summer of 1914. 'A splendidly entertaining mix of early Ambler with a dash of Bulldog Drummond escapism, and are clearly the work of a writer enjoying himself.' - The Guardian

Gavin Lyall

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