Death of an Officer

<P><B>London. Spring 1943. </B>While Europe continues to suffer under the iron fist of Nazi occupation, Britain remains battered but unbowed.<br><br> DCI Frank Merlin, already contending with a booming wartime crime wave in the capital, is confronted with a baffling case: the brutal murder of a respected doctor.<br><br> Following a puzzling trail that leads him into the hidden corners of clubland - and which appears to be linked to the disappearance of both British and American officers - Merlin must untangle a dark web of shocking secrets.<br><br>'This is to my shame the first Mark Ellis book I've read. If the others evoke a vanished London so impressively, are graced with such complex plots and deep characterisation, and, above all, are written so well I shall have to read them all.<B>'</B><B><I>THE TIMES</I></B><br><br>'An atmospheric, compelling evocation of war-torn London in the wake of the Blitz, where DCI Frank Merlin fights against a tidal wave of crime' <B>GEOFFREY WANSELL, Crime and Thriller Reviewer, DAILY MAIL</B><br><br>'Unputdownable' <B>ROBERT LYMAN</B><br><br>'Mark Ellis delivers diamonds - an intriguing, masterly juggling of an intricate plot and an enviable command of detail<B>.' JOHN LAWTON</B><br><br>'Extraordinarily atmospheric and compelling, DEAD IN THE WATER is a wonderfully intelligent and complex story' <B>CHRIS LLOYD, HWA Gold Crown Award winner.</B><br><br>'...historical noir at its best. Mark Ellis's talents as a writer are many; finely embroidered plotting, a meticulously researched historical context and place, and rounded characters whose lives and capers become real for a reader' <B>GARY DONNELLY<br></B><br>'A very satisfying puzzle, expertly crafted' <I><B>HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY</B></I><br><br>Praise for the DCI Frank Merlin series:<br><br><B>'Masterly . . . compelling . . . one of the most attractive characters to emerge in recent detective-thriller fiction' </B>ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR<br><br><B>'Against the backdrop of Blitz-hit London, this stylish thriller sees Scotland Yard's Frank Merlin investigate a tangled conspiracy'</B><I>SUNDAY MIRROR</I></P>