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The Sandler Inquiry
A deadly and elusive man. A woman seeking justice and retribution. A thirty-year-old secret that could ignite World War III. Who was Arthur Sandler? Wartime patriot? Or a ruthless and amoral monster who put his vast financial machine behind the highest bidder? Leslie McAdam calls him by another name: Father. Determined to claim her rightful inheritance -- and to uncover the shrouded past of the man she knew as her father -- Leslie has come to Thomas Daniels, a New York attorney haunted by his own bloodstained family history. Yet not even Daniels can imagine what lies beneath decades-old secrets when he launches an inquiry into his client's murky past. As he moves through the twisting labyrinth of the world's intelligence community, he uncovers a monstrous link between the man who called himself Arthur Sandler and a conspiracy reaching to the highest levels of government...in three countries. From America to Europe to Russia, he pursues a cold trail that is suddenly red-hot, as the sins of the past live again and Daniels is stalked by a deadly adversary who must keep the truth buried at all costs. Based on a shocking and shameful episode in history that threatened to alter the course of the worldís economic future, The Sandler Inquiry tells a gripping and unforgettable story of espionage and intrigue, loyalty and love. Now available in a brand-new hardcover edition, it is a classic novel of World War II and its chilling aftermath from an unrivaled master of the game.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
247 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
Noel Hynd
62 books218 followers I've been a published novelist for longer than I care to admit, since 1976. I'm frequently asked, however, how I first got published. It's an interesting story and involved both Robert Ludlum and James Baldwin, even though neither of them knew it --- or me --- at the time.
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
My first agent, a wonderful thorughly perofessional gentleman named Robert Lantz was representing Mr. Baldwin at the time. This was around 1975. Balwin, while a brilliant writer, had had some nasty dealings with the head of Dell Publishing. Dell held Jimmy's contract at the time and he could not legally write for anyone else until he gave Dell a book that was due to them. Nonetheless, he refused to deliver a manuscript to Dell and went to Paris to sit things out.
The book was due to The Dial Press, which Dell owned. Baldwin was widely quoted as saying....and I'm cleaning up the quote here, "that he was no longer picking cotton on Dell's planatation."
The book was due to The Dial Press. The editor in chief of The Dial Press was a stellar editor who was making a name for himself and a fair bit of money for the company publishing thriller-author Robert Ludlum. A best seller every year will do that for an editor. Anyway, Baldwin fled New York for Paris. The editor followed, the asignment being to get him to come happily back to Dial. As soon as the editor arrived, Baldwin fled to Algeria. Or maybe Tunisia. It hardly mattered because Baldwin was furious and simply wouldn 't do a book for Dell/Dial. The editor returned to NY without his quarry. Things were at a standstill.
That's where I entered the story, unpublished at age 27 and knowing enough to keep my mouth shut while these things went down. I had given 124 pages of a first novel to Mr. Lantz ten days eariler. Miraculously, his reader liked it and then HE liked it. It was in the same genre that Ludlum wrote in and which the editor at Dial excelled at editing and marketing.
My agent and the editor ran into each other one afternoon in July of 1974 in one of those swank Manhattan places where people used to have three martinis for lunch. The agent asked how things had gone in Europe. The editor told him, knowing full well that the agent already knew. The next steps would be lawyers, Baldwin dragged into US Courts, major authors boycotting Doubleday/Dell, Dial, maybe some civil rights demonstrations and.......but no so fast.
Mr. Lantz offered Dial the first look at a new adventure/espionage novelist (me). IF Dial wanted me after reading my 124 pages, he could sign me, but only IF Baldwin was released from his obligations at Doubleday. I was the literary bribe, so to speak, that would get Jimmy free from Dial. It seemed like a great idea to everyone. It seemed that way because it was. Paperwork was prepapred and paperwork was signed. Voila!...To make a much longer story short, Dial accepted my novel. The editor instructed me on how to raise it to a professional level as I finished writing it over the next ten months. I followed orders perfectly. I even felt prosperous on my $7500 advance. He then had Dial release Mr. Balwin from his obligation. Not surpringly, he went on to create fine books for other publishers. Ludlum did even batter. Of the three, I'm the pauper but I've gotten my fair share and I'm alive with books coming out again now in the very near future, no small accmplishment. So no complaints from me.
That''s how I got published. I met Ludlum many times later on and Baldwin once. Ludlum liked my name "Noel" and used it for an then-upcoming charcter named Noel Holcroft. That amused me. I don't know if either of them even knew that my career had been in their orbits for a month 1975. They would have been amused. They were both smart gifted men and fine writers in dfferent ways. This story was told to me by one of the principals two years later and another one confirmed it.
Me, I came out of it with my first publishing contract, for a book titled 'Reve
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 17, 2025
“Minu Väike Poni: Sõprus on Maagiline” filmi raamat on ka sellest pasast parem. Kui ma saaks siis ma paneks 0 tähte
April 8, 2018
The Sandler Inquiry is one of the first book by Noel Hynd, and it shows from the style almost juvenile compared to his later works such as False Flag, good, and Truman's Spy, excellent, I think his best.
The plot of The Sandler Inquiry is nicely complex, with an intriguing play of smokes and mirrors where you loose track of who's who - at a certain point I counted at least 5 characters normally walking the streets though they were supposedly dead since decades,
So, the plot is a nice one with an escalating tension towards the end which does not spare some good surprise; the main problem of this novel resides in weak character development and specifically the fact of having as a central hero a dumb-ass who God-knows-how manages to unravel an impossible plot.
So much for character development; despite this, it remains a pretty good and enjoyable read.
A last remark for a peculiarity which I found in all the Hynd's novels I read, ie the habit of summarising at the end the whole story, so that you are never left with lose ends in his books, something that one might like or not but definitely useful especially when the plots are so complicated.
The plot of The Sandler Inquiry is nicely complex, with an intriguing play of smokes and mirrors where you loose track of who's who - at a certain point I counted at least 5 characters normally walking the streets though they were supposedly dead since decades,
So, the plot is a nice one with an escalating tension towards the end which does not spare some good surprise; the main problem of this novel resides in weak character development and specifically the fact of having as a central hero a dumb-ass who God-knows-how manages to unravel an impossible plot.
So much for character development; despite this, it remains a pretty good and enjoyable read.
A last remark for a peculiarity which I found in all the Hynd's novels I read, ie the habit of summarising at the end the whole story, so that you are never left with lose ends in his books, something that one might like or not but definitely useful especially when the plots are so complicated.
August 7, 2016
What a clever story - good twists and turns... many surprises. Well worth picking up - highly recommended...
November 10, 2019
“I hate theories,” he said. “I like facts. That’s why I hate law. Law deals with permutations of truth and misrepresentations, obscuring facts.”
A story of double-doubles, and triples, lies, deceit. Time is the mid-1970s, and WWII and the Cold War are not distant past. Espionage is the central theme, and sorting out who is who, and who is handling the players are the mysteries. The protagonist, Thomas Daniels, is too placid, reactive, sort of in a fog, and yet his life is in danger. As I read it, I had a sense of having read it before, and losing interest in sorting out the puzzle. I picked it up because I’ve liked reading books by this author (and did not recall having read it).
I read the ebook — what an editing disaster! Very distracting — spelling, punctuation including dropped quotation marks, paragraphing, incomplete sentences and phrasing...the list goes on. No recommendation for this one.
A story of double-doubles, and triples, lies, deceit. Time is the mid-1970s, and WWII and the Cold War are not distant past. Espionage is the central theme, and sorting out who is who, and who is handling the players are the mysteries. The protagonist, Thomas Daniels, is too placid, reactive, sort of in a fog, and yet his life is in danger. As I read it, I had a sense of having read it before, and losing interest in sorting out the puzzle. I picked it up because I’ve liked reading books by this author (and did not recall having read it).
I read the ebook — what an editing disaster! Very distracting — spelling, punctuation including dropped quotation marks, paragraphing, incomplete sentences and phrasing...the list goes on. No recommendation for this one.
August 17, 2020
Great Ending
Another outstanding book by Hynd. I really enjoy his style. Cold War spying done by all. How the Ruskies wiped our butts.
But we prevailed and are still here.
Thanks for the fun.
Another outstanding book by Hynd. I really enjoy his style. Cold War spying done by all. How the Ruskies wiped our butts.
But we prevailed and are still here.
Thanks for the fun.
June 26, 2021
A suspenseful and intriguing novel
Well written. Character development was exceptionally good. A novel of times still prevalent today as opposing nations and ideologies persist in attempting to undue one another.
Well written. Character development was exceptionally good. A novel of times still prevalent today as opposing nations and ideologies persist in attempting to undue one another.
January 5, 2024
The best book I have ever read this year. Not only the plot or the characters, but the book itself has become one of my favorites. A definitely 5 star read. I couldn't put it down and totally binged it.
October 7, 2018
Good read, hard to put down
Have enjoyed all of Hynds writings thus far. Looking forward to his next thriller. I hope it's as good as all of his previous noveks
Have enjoyed all of Hynds writings thus far. Looking forward to his next thriller. I hope it's as good as all of his previous noveks
January 20, 2019
One of the best
Does it again! Imposters abound and opportune a young lawyer and his missing heiress client. Is she real? Who is chasing them? Russians, Brits, oh my!
Does it again! Imposters abound and opportune a young lawyer and his missing heiress client. Is she real? Who is chasing them? Russians, Brits, oh my!
February 18, 2019
Amazing
This book reminds me of Ludlum. I haven’t read such a good book in a long time. It Really held me captive and left me with a desire to read more by the same author
This book reminds me of Ludlum. I haven’t read such a good book in a long time. It Really held me captive and left me with a desire to read more by the same author
December 22, 2020
The newest LeClarre
Each generation has its master spy story writer. Hynd is this one's Ambler. The Sandler Inquiry will leave you wanting more intrigue and adventures by him.
Each generation has its master spy story writer. Hynd is this one's Ambler. The Sandler Inquiry will leave you wanting more intrigue and adventures by him.
April 15, 2024
70s Genre Masterpiece
Complicated would be an understatement. Think: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And then add a bit of confusion for good measure. All thumbs up. Bravo!
Complicated would be an understatement. Think: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And then add a bit of confusion for good measure. All thumbs up. Bravo!
October 24, 2011
Interesting and nicely convoluted plot. You never know who is lying or telling the truth until the end. Pacing and plot were great. I am afraid to say much about it for fear of giving it away. The plot involves a lawyer, his father's legal practice a woman who may or not be who she says she is and WW II, the cold war and spies.
December 11, 2014
Thomas discovers his law office burned to the ground and a dead man out front. So begins an exciting ride into intrigue that goes back to Hitler and Russia. This is the second five star read by this author and I am sure I will read more. It was definitely a page turner with plenty of twists and turns and a bit of romance thrown in. Recommended.
April 25, 2016
You better pay attention
I had read several of Hynd's books over several months. All were outstanding. Somehow, I had missed this one. Back after almost a year, I could hardly lay this one down. I read it in about a week. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. I thought I had it figured out several times and got completely surprised at the end. Now I can get some sleep.
I had read several of Hynd's books over several months. All were outstanding. Somehow, I had missed this one. Back after almost a year, I could hardly lay this one down. I read it in about a week. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. I thought I had it figured out several times and got completely surprised at the end. Now I can get some sleep.
February 3, 2014
This was my first exposure to Noel Hynd...hard to put down. Once you enter the last chapters, all the pieces of the puzzle fall in to place...you smile...and have enjoyed a masterful work: enjoy!
May 1, 2014
Really good read
I like books that are hard to put down, and this was one of them.
l hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Curt
I like books that are hard to put down, and this was one of them.
l hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Curt
June 7, 2014
Page turner for me; a fun read.
June 22, 2014
Not Good!
December 6, 2016
This was a good story line and keep you guessing until the very end.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews