John Creasey (September 17, 1908 - June 9, 1973) was born in Southfields, Surrey, England and died in New Hall, Bodenham, Salisbury Wiltshire, England. He was the seventh of nine children in a working class home. He became an English author of crime thrillers, published in excess of 600 books under 20+ different pseudonyms. He invented many famous characters who would appear in a whole series of novels. Probably the most famous of these is Gideon of Scotland Yard, the basis for the television program Gideon's Way but others include Department Z, Dr. Palfrey, The Toff, Inspector Roger West, and The Baron (which was also made into a television series). In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Gideon's Fire, written under the pen name J. J. Marric. And in 1969 he was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.
Struggled through the audio book; the first half was quite interesting and intriguing to me as I met the different characters. However, the last half became very slow and confusing. It may be me, as I listened in snippets here and there. I never really understood the "who" and "why" of the traitor. I wish someone would write a nice review with spoilers to illuminate me! I'll try another John Creasey work, but found this one slow and, as another reviewer stated here, "Dull."
A WW II espionage book. In memory of my mom (who looooooved John Creasey), I decided to dig in. Unfortunately, I found the characters to be hard to visualize and the plot very ordinary. It did bring back warm feelings of remembering my mom reading these books, may she rest in peace.
This was my first Dr. Palfrey book. I had a bit of trouble following the plot, but I liked the protagonist, and Creasey's writing, so I'm going to go on to another in the series.