Allan Massie

After the Roman occupation of Britain, tribal kings are vying with each other for titles, land and power. A young boy confounds these knights when he pulls a sword from a stone and claims the empty throne of Uther Pendragon. This is a stylish and witty re-telling of the Arthurian legend.

Winter, 1942. The war is turning against Germany on the Eastern Front. In Bordeaux, Superintendent Lannes - himself an object of suspicion, with one son in Vichy and another with de Gaulle's Free French - investigates the murder of a woman. It looks like a crime of passion. But the investigation will lead Lannes into dangerous territory.

With his son's return, Superintendent Lannes and his wife can, at last, have some joy amid the grim reality of Vichy France. But when the body of an elderly man without identity papers is found it seems a series of unexplained murders have started again.

In the spring of 1940, a mutilated body is discovered in a street near Bordeaux railway station. When Superintendent Lannes is warned off the investigation, he suspects that there is a political motive for the murder. In defiance of authority, he continues working on the case. And then another body is found...

In the summer of 1944, France is in turmoil. The Allied invasion, bringing the promise of Liberation, is awaited, eagerly and nervously. Superintendent Lannes, suspended from duty by order of the Boches, searches unofficially for a missing girl, and investigates cases of historic sex abuse. His marriage is experiencing difficulties and he worries about his sons, one with the Free French, the other in Vichy.

Alec Allan looks back over his life from his solid Scottish background to the politics of the 1930's and 1940's. He also examines the very different lives of his three brothers.