Why a Booktrail?
1941: Fourth in the DCI Frank Merlin Series
A Death in Mayfair
What you need to know before your trail
On a bright Sunday morning in Hawaii, Japanese planes swoop down and attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbour. America enters the war and Britain no longer stands alone against Hitler.
Conditions on the home front remain bleak. In a city pulverised by the Blitz, with rampant crime and corruption and overstretched police resources, life for Scotland Yard detective Frank Merlin continues as arduous as ever.
In the week of Japan’s aggression, the shattered body of beautiful film star Laura Curzon is found on the pavement beneath her Mayfair apartment, an apparent suicide. A mile away, the body of a strangled young girl is discovered in the rubble of a bombed-out building.
Merlin and his team investigate, encountering fraudulent film moguls, philandering movie stars, depraved Satanists and brutal gangsters as they battle through a wintry London in pursuit of the truth.
Locations
Reset- England - London
- A: Old Bailey
- B: London Docklands
- C: St. James's Street
- D: Wardour St
- E: Gerald Rd
- F: Mayfair
Travel Guide
Discover wartime London via Mark Ellis
Wartime London is viewed through the eyes of many criminals who took advantage of the war. Here, we meet criminals and lowlifes who are out for their own ends and see ways of making profits from the confusion of war.
The atmosphere and feel of desperation of a city at war is palpable throughout the novel. This is London Noir. Men emerging from and hiding in shadows. The sound of someone running. Dark, damp streets which lead to danger.
The other side of the novel evokes the glitz and glamour of Mayfair. Starlets and wannabe starlets hanging on the arms of gangsters. Parties in clouds of smoke. Smoke and Mirrors. Wartime London seen through very unique eyes.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: A Death in Mayfair
Destination/location: London Author/guide: Mark Ellis Departure Time: 1941
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