Author: Williams, Andrew

London, Greater London

Published on 14 September 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton (Hodder Paperback) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 368 pages
128 x 198 x 25 | 260g

The gripping and immersive historical thriller from the author of Witchfinder, based on the true events of a scandalous blackmail plot hidden in the shadows…

‘A compelling story of power, passion and intrigue based on real events. A terrific read’ NICK ROBINSON, BBC Today presenter’A wickedly entertaining tale of political chicanery’ DAILY TELEGRAPHLondon 1929. Very much not a land fit for heroes. Frenchie knows his occasional work for MI5 serves only the ruling classes. But he needs to feed his children. Scruples died in the trenches.

When Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister, is blackmailed by a former lover, Frenchie must go to Paris to buy her silence.

It is clear there are many people who would see MacDonald fall – the Conservatives, their friends in the press, even some of his own colleagues. But his own secret service? When Frenchie hears the other side of the story, everything changes.

‘If le Carre needs a successor, Williams has all the equipment for the role’ TIMES Literary Supplement Books of the Year’Spy tradecraft of the old school, with no computers, fast cars or mobile phones, but not a whit less exciting for that. Highly recommended as both a spy story and a piece of social and political history’ Shots Magazine