Terror Tower

Trevor Lowe #5

by Gerald Verner

Worryingly for Scotland Yard, four officers disappear whilst on duty.

One vanishes chasing a forger. Then two officers disappear searching for a wanted jewel thief in Hythe. Finally, a fourth officer vanishes in Hythe, after being sent to the nearby village of Stonehurst.

Criminologist Trevor Lowe investigates a lead: someone has telephoned to arrange a meeting at the crossroads between the two villages. Lowe keeps the rendezvous but finds the man has been silenced — shot dead in a ditch . . .

This twisty, edge-of-the-seat thriller will see the strong arm of London’s police force picked off one by one in a whodunit that unravels with all the pace and intrigue of Line of Duty.

Genres: Fiction

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Gerald Verner is one of the pseudonyms used by John Robert Stuart Pringle, who was born in Streatham, London, on 31 January 1897.

In his early writing days he used the name Donald Stuart, under which name he wrote 44 stories for the Sexton Blake Library as well as six stories for Union Jack and three for the Thriller magazine. In addition he wrote two stage plays, 'Sexton Blake' and 'The Shadow', two films, 'The Man Outside' (1933) and 'The Shadow' (1933) under the Stuart name. Later a number of his books were adapted for radio serials, stage plays and films.

He became a hugely successful thriller writer, producing more than 120 novels that were translated in 35 languages. The Duke of Windsor was a big Verner fan and at one time he was presented with 15 volumes specially bound.

Heavily influenced by Edgar Wallace, he wrote extensively for magazines such as Detective Weekly, the Sexton Blake Library, Union Jack and The Thriller. He also adapted Peter Cheyney's 'Meet Mr Callaghan' and Agatha Christie's 'Towards Zero' for the stage.

He also used the pseudonyms Thane Leslie, Derwent Steele and Nigel Vane.

He died at Broadstairs, Kent, of natural causes on 16 September 1980.

Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2013

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the last two years four Scotland Yard detectives have gone missing. One evening dramatist Trevor Lowe gets a telephone call which results with him and his secretary travelling towards Stonehurst for a meeting at 1.00 a.m.. Instead they find a body. On staying in Stonehurst to investigate more deaths occur. But why.
An enjoyable historical mystery
Originally published in 1935

[Kim Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good read. I did work out who the main perpetrator was, though to be fair, it became fairly obvious (or at least I thought so).