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Dark #7
Dark Wanton
'Dark Wanton' is a tense novel, set primarily in London's West End, which hinges upon the disappearance of two vital lists containing the names of secondary war criminals wanted by the Allied authorities. Their recovery is the responsibility of poker-faced Everard Peter Quayle and his oddly assorted team of secret agents.
- GenresCrime
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
About the author
Peter Cheyney
138 books31 followersBorn Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, he trained as a lawyer before getting tired of legal office work and joining the Army. He fought at the second Battle of the Somme in World War I and was wounded but when he returned to England he wrote songs, poems and short stories for various newspapers and magazines and used many pseudonyms.
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2020
My second Cheyney, this time hitting the world of international espionage. Two lists of undercover agents have gone missing and Peter Quayle tries to effect their recovery. Anthony Kiernan is a former agent looking for a way to ingratiate himself back into the secret service. Sheer 1950s escapism replete with the casual misogyny of the times, something that we don't seem to have quite left behind. The Goodreads blurb for this fails to mention the two most memorable characters who both happen to be female - Good-time-gal Aurora Francis and Antoinette Brown, the "Practical Virgin".
May 10, 2021
Typical gripping espionage
March 28, 2021
enjoying this, my second Cheyney novel..began with "Dark Bahama"...evokes the era well and I find the characters convincing and the plot well spun
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews