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The Mandarin Cipher: A Wentworth & Devereux adventure
It is the year 1899.
It is three months since the events of The properties of Mercury. Captain Wentworth in mourning for his wife is lifted from his stupor by two letters received; one from the admiralty and one from an old school friend and midshipman, Hugh Abercrombie. In Abercrombie’s letter is an invitation to dinner to discuss a mysterious parchment attached to the letter containing a cipher in Chinese.
At the admiralty, Wentworth is asked by his superiors to act as a liaison between themselves and the innovative, wealthy inventor, Frederick Devereux. Devereux is using his wealth and machinery to assist a Navy operation, attempting to refloat a sunken auxiliary ship off the coat of Kent.
Wentworth travels to Kent where he and Devereux discover it’s not a colliery vessel but a state -of-the-art submarine being trialed for the Japanese navy. The Sub has been saboatged and both Wentworth & Devereux believe this to be the case as the cipher’s scrip is treated with phosphorous.
Wentworth & Devereux are drawn into a murder, an international crisis and the threat to the Empires of Europe from an anarchist known as Deschamps.
It is three months since the events of The properties of Mercury. Captain Wentworth in mourning for his wife is lifted from his stupor by two letters received; one from the admiralty and one from an old school friend and midshipman, Hugh Abercrombie. In Abercrombie’s letter is an invitation to dinner to discuss a mysterious parchment attached to the letter containing a cipher in Chinese.
At the admiralty, Wentworth is asked by his superiors to act as a liaison between themselves and the innovative, wealthy inventor, Frederick Devereux. Devereux is using his wealth and machinery to assist a Navy operation, attempting to refloat a sunken auxiliary ship off the coat of Kent.
Wentworth travels to Kent where he and Devereux discover it’s not a colliery vessel but a state -of-the-art submarine being trialed for the Japanese navy. The Sub has been saboatged and both Wentworth & Devereux believe this to be the case as the cipher’s scrip is treated with phosphorous.
Wentworth & Devereux are drawn into a murder, an international crisis and the threat to the Empires of Europe from an anarchist known as Deschamps.
169 pages, ebook
Published February 10, 2017
2 people want to read
About the author
Robert Craven
13 books30 followersMy latest novel - The Payout Game will be released January 2026
A body on the rocks.
A bookmaker with dangerous secrets.
When the case is ruled a misadventure, Inspector Crowe digs deeper — and enters a world where murder is just another wager.
ARC review
"There was a lot of your trademark writing in there, the nuances that suggest something without telling us, sometimes in the right direction, sometimes in the wrong direction, keeping the suspense building.
Crowe has an edgy depth that never really comes out, his complexities never shade the plot itself, which I like. It stays focused, like him, on the case.
It kept me hooked. A page-turner. Right up to your high standard and a very original plot.
Thank you!"
EAGLES HUNT WOLVES won the
FIREBIRD BOOK AWARD 2021 - ACTION / ADVENTURE.
I write too under the pen name W.T. Edsel
A body on the rocks.
A bookmaker with dangerous secrets.
When the case is ruled a misadventure, Inspector Crowe digs deeper — and enters a world where murder is just another wager.
ARC review
"There was a lot of your trademark writing in there, the nuances that suggest something without telling us, sometimes in the right direction, sometimes in the wrong direction, keeping the suspense building.
Crowe has an edgy depth that never really comes out, his complexities never shade the plot itself, which I like. It stays focused, like him, on the case.
It kept me hooked. A page-turner. Right up to your high standard and a very original plot.
Thank you!"
EAGLES HUNT WOLVES won the
FIREBIRD BOOK AWARD 2021 - ACTION / ADVENTURE.
I write too under the pen name W.T. Edsel
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