Jade Gate

Robert Gunn #3

by James Leasor

Robert Gunn, founder of the Mandarin-Gold trading company, had always been quick to seize new opportunities. That had been the making of his vast Far Eastern trading empire. And when the change from sail to steam in the world's shipping made coal as valuable as gold. Gunn saw his way to another fortune. Vessels on the Eastern seas needed local supplies of fuel — and the man who discovered coal in the East would command the whole area. Enormous power for his country and himself. Gunn believed that Jade Gate Island, off Borneo, hid coal deposits, and there were others who shared his belief. In a land where life was cheap and the prize incalculable, the race for coal was likely to be a fight to the death ...

To the powerful and arrogant Dr. Robert Gunn, life 'might be likened to a fierce race for enormous prizes'. No prize could be richer than the discovery of coal on Jade Gate Island - but then no race could be fiercer, more uncertain, or more violent....

‘Jade Gate’ is the final book in the Robert Gunn trilogy, following on from the acclaimed best-sellers, ‘Mandarin-Gold’ and ‘The Chinese Widow’.

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2012

About the author

James Leasor was a prolific British author, who wrote historical books and thrillers. A number of Leasor's works were made into films, including his 1978 book, Boarding Party, about an incident from the Second World War that until that time was secret, was turned into a film, "The Sea Wolves", starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven.

Thomas James Leasor was born at Erith, Kent, on 20th December 1923 and educated at the City of London School. On leaving school, whilst waiting to join the army, he had his first foray into journalism, as a cub scout reporter for the Kent Messenger.
He volunteered for the Army in World War 2, as soon as he was old enough. He was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and served in Burma with the Lincolnshire Regiment.

After the war he went up to Oriel College, Oxford, to read English. There he edited the Isis magazine, before joining the Daily Express. He became a full-time author in the 1960s. He also ghosted a number of autobiographies for subjects as diverse as the Duke of Windsor, King Zog of Albania, the actors Kenneth More and Jack Hawkins and Rats, a Jack Russell terrier that served with the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

He lived for his last 40 years at Swallowcliffe Manor, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. He died on 10th September 2007 and is buried in the churchyard of St Peter’s Church, Swallowcliffe.