Book outline When Ben Cartwright discovers the murdered corpse of his friend and business partner, Toni Cimbrone he appears to have uncovered a major problem. For it seems that the Cimbrone family wish to take control away from him of his wine importing business in London. Ben flies to Naples to confront Alfredo, the current head of the Cimbroni, and to try to persuade him to change his mind. On the plane he strikes up a friendship with Donna, a sexy American who is frightened of flying. Suddenly deposited in the back streets of Naples, Ben finds his life is in peril from a group of Italian thugs. Escaping from their clutches he is rescued by Donna and taken to her hotel. Next day he goes to the Villa Cimbrone and walks into the arranged betrothal of Toni’s younger sister Francesca to Dino Vitelli. Francesca uses his arrival as an excuse to avoid the ceremony. That night, the wing of the villa where Ben is sleeping is set on fire and he escapes with Francesca, who proves to be something of a hand-full.handful. The following day Francesca arranges to meet him at the Pompeii excavations but instead he runs into the Italian thugs again. He escapes, but is suspicious of Francesca when he meets up with her. To explain, she takes him to visit her blind grandfather who tells Ben the story behind the Wolf of Hades. Ben and Francesca decide to stop running and beard Mancino Vitelli (The Wolf) in his den. The climb into the Villa Rafallo is difficult and dangerous. Once inside the villa the interview with Mancino ends in the man’s death. Once again they are pursued by the Vitelli, this time along the winding Amalfi Drive and across the Bay of Naples in a storm and into the Solfatara volcano which is starting to erupt. The legendary Wolf of Hades has come out of his lair and must have his bag off of souls before he will return to the underworld. |
Book Outline Charlotte Faraday is a very modern detective. Fresh out of university with an honours degree and having written the software for a new detection computer programme which her superiors are very interested in, she has been fast-tracked to the rank of inspector. With the position has come a lot of jealousy and sexual prejudice. It has also ruined her personal relationship with her partner. She is being seconded from the Met to the Devon and Cornwall force. They have a big problem. Every summer for the past five years a prominent, rich Torquay woman has died under suspicious circumstances. And the local police haven’t a clue who to suspect. They are getting a very bad press and the Deputy Chief Constable is desperate to make some progress on the investigations. The local man is D.I. Stafford Paulson. He is easy going but no fool. He accepts Charlotte and her new-fangled equipment more readily than his boss, DCS Lasham, who is a copper of the old school. Surrounded by warring officers, Charlotte sets out to solve the murders and prove (herself) that she and her computer are the right choice. Meanwhile, Richard Harris is starting his annual fortnight’s holiday in Paignton, returning, as he does every year, to the area he left after his wife committed suicide, following accusations of theft from one of the rich Torquay families she worked for. He befriends Susannah Blake, lonely wife of an absentee financier. Day by day, led by Charlotte’s computer, the detectives are zeroing in on the person responsible for the murders. Over the same few days Richard and Susannah’s friendship blossoms into romance. Is the pattern going to repeat for a sixth summer? Stafford Paulson decides to branch out on his own following his old-fashioned instincts. Is he going to beat the computer or has he risked destroying the carefully built-up case by his independent action? On a wild, stormy night all the characters come together on Berry Head, with the waves crashing on to the rocks two hundred feet below, and the mysteries are resolved. (A sequel has been planned and partly written using the same characters – including the computer programme). |
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