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Dark #7
Dark Wanton: A 'Dark' Series Thriller
A Secret Service thriller of double-cross and double double-cross! As exciting as only Cheyney can make it.
The Second World War has just ended and the Secret Service discover that two lists of German war criminals have vanished. Peter Quayle is the head of the responsible department, and he is now tasked with the recovery of the lists. Instead of sharing the job with his usual agents he calls in a special group of people who operated behind enemy lines during the war.
Quayle's second in command, Michael Frewin, appears too dapper to be an effective agent - but he is a cold blooded killer. Then there is Antoinette Brown, the 'Practical Virgin' - elegant, sexy, immune to men and a first-class brain. She recruits Aurora Francis and then the suave, debonair Anthony Keirnan - a former agent with hidden depths.
Once the team is complete, the novel follows twist with turn, rocketing ever faster towards a final, shocking conclusion.
Dark Wanton was originally published in 1948.
'A Peter Cheyney novel always tingles with life' Daily Sketch
The Second World War has just ended and the Secret Service discover that two lists of German war criminals have vanished. Peter Quayle is the head of the responsible department, and he is now tasked with the recovery of the lists. Instead of sharing the job with his usual agents he calls in a special group of people who operated behind enemy lines during the war.
Quayle's second in command, Michael Frewin, appears too dapper to be an effective agent - but he is a cold blooded killer. Then there is Antoinette Brown, the 'Practical Virgin' - elegant, sexy, immune to men and a first-class brain. She recruits Aurora Francis and then the suave, debonair Anthony Keirnan - a former agent with hidden depths.
Once the team is complete, the novel follows twist with turn, rocketing ever faster towards a final, shocking conclusion.
Dark Wanton was originally published in 1948.
'A Peter Cheyney novel always tingles with life' Daily Sketch
- GenresCrime
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1948
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Peter Cheyney
138 books31 followersBorn Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, he trained as a lawyer before getting tired of legal office work and joining the Army. He fought at the second Battle of the Somme in World War I and was wounded but when he returned to England he wrote songs, poems and short stories for various newspapers and magazines and used many pseudonyms.
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 13, 2020
My second Cheyney, this time hitting the world of international espionage. Two lists of undercover agents have gone missing and Peter Quayle tries to effect their recovery. Anthony Kiernan is a former agent looking for a way to ingratiate himself back into the secret service. Sheer 1950s escapism replete with the casual misogyny of the times, something that we don't seem to have quite left behind. The Goodreads blurb for this fails to mention the two most memorable characters who both happen to be female - Good-time-gal Aurora Francis and Antoinette Brown, the "Practical Virgin".
May 10, 2021
Typical gripping espionage
March 28, 2021
enjoying this, my second Cheyney novel..began with "Dark Bahama"...evokes the era well and I find the characters convincing and the plot well spun
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews