Dead Letter

Masters and Green #21

by Douglas Clark

A particularly taxing problem takes Detective Chief Superintendent George Masters and Detective Chief Inspector Bill Green, Scotland Yard’s top detective team, on a Mediterranean holiday—and takes Green back in time to the Second World War and his experiences of army life.

Detective Chief Inspector Bill Green receives an anonymous letter from a former army comrade who has inadvertently witnessed a murder. The writer has good reason to maintain anonymity; one of the accomplices happens to be a local policeman.

Green and his partner, Detective Chief Superintendent George Masters, face one of the greatest challenges of their careers as they launch a subtle investigation without arousing the suspicion of a corrupt colleague who is dangerously adept in using his professional police skills for malicious purposes.

Dead Letter is the twenty-first book in Douglas Clark’s classic British mystery series following crime-fighting duo, Masters and Green.

Douglas Clark was born in Lincolnshire, 1919. He wrote over 20 crime novels and under other names, including James Ditton and Peter Hosier.

Genres: Mystery

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Douglas Malcolm Jackson Clark was a British author.

He was also known by the pseudonyms James Ditton and Peter Hosier.

Reviews

[P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting premise falls by the wayside. M&G are sent on a hush-hush case involving extremely dangerous drug dealers/ killers. They decamp to the killers locale, taking their wives and a 2 year old child!!! Exclamation points mine!! Add to this huge huge huge info dumps re mobile gun batteries during WW2, and there seems to be no reason to read this one.

[Doug Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

DCI Bill Green receives an unusual anonymous letter from a man who had served with him forty years before during the Second World War. The writer of the letter said that he had been out one night doing some photography work when he witnessed a murder being committed. He had not reported the murder to the local police because a policeman he recognized had been present with the murderers.

Despite his prodigious memory, Green can not identify the letter writer. He, DCS George Masters, and their Scotland Yard team are assigned to find out if they can verify the claims of the letter. The investigation leads them to a number of military veterans in search of information, and it soon seems likely that there are at least three murders connected to the affair. This is another fascinating case for Masters and Green. It's also a change of pace for them, since no exotic poisons are involved.

[John Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good plot with interesting insight into Green's history. A pleasure

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

DCI Green has received a letter from he presumes is an old war colleague. It details a murder. Can the team trace him, the victim and the murder.
An enjoyable mystery

[Barry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

DCI/SSCO Bill Green received a letter from an old war comrade, he had seen a murder take place, the letter also stated that a senior police officer was present at the execution and the old comrade was in fear for his life. The letter was written in such a way that if it hadn't reached Bill then whoever the reader was they would not know who it was from, the only problem being that 40 years had passed since the war and Bill didn't know who it was from either. DCS Masters was approached by Bill Green about the letter and believed the story, they then had to approach AC (Crime) Anderson and convince him and to let them investigate the case.