Assassin

Mikael Josef Petros #1

by James Anderson

Fine in fine dust jacket. Hardcover first edition - New Simon & Schuster,, (1969). Hardcover first edition -. Fine in fine dust jacket.. First US printing. The author's first crime novel, and the first in the series featuring Mikael Josef Petros. Petros was awaiting death by hanging in a Central European death cell - and then he was offered a way out. He could buy his freedom by assassinating the President of the neighbouring state. To ensure his good faith. he was injected with a fatal drug that would kill him inside four months, unless he could prove that he had completed his mission and returned for the antidote. An Inner Sanctum mystery. 219 pp

219 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

James Anderson was educated at Reading University where he gained a History degree and although born in Swindon, Wiltshire, he lived for most of his life near Cardiff.

He worked as a salesman before becoming a copywriter and then a freelance journalist, contributing to many newspapers, house journals and specialist magazines. He later turned to writing novels, the first of which was 'Assassin' (1969).

As well as his general thrillers, he wrote three books featuring Inspector Wilkins beginning with 'The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy' in 1975. The series continued with 'the Affair of the Mutilated Mink Coat' (1981) and ended with 'The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cuff Links' (2003).

He also wrote three novels based on the television series 'Murder, She Wrote', which were 'the Murder of Sherlock Holmes (1985), Hooray for Homicide' (1985) and 'Lovers and Other Killers' (1986). In total he wrote 14 novels and one play.

He died in 2007.

Gerry Wolstenholme
September 2010