The Wickham Affair

Spring, 1944. As Britain prepares for the largest invasion in modern history, murder arrives quietly in the Hampshire village of Wickham.Retired Italian inspector Marco Bulgiani wants only peace: mornings in his garden at Mabel Cottage, evenings at the King's Head with his miniature schnauzer Francesca, and distance from the darkness that has consumed Europe once again.But when he is summoned to Hawthorn Vale, an old country house standing in the shadow of Southwick House and the secret planning of D-Day, Bulgiani finds a man dead inside a locked room.Then another body appears.The house is full of respectable faces: a grieving aristocrat, a decorated retired colonel, a troubled priest, a charming estate manager and a journalist asking dangerous questions. Beneath their polished manners lies something far more sinister.Hidden tunnels. Secret radio transmissions. Propaganda printed in the dead of night. And whispers of a British fascist network operating at the heart of wartime England.As Bulgiani digs deeper, he uncovers a conspiracy stretching from quiet village lanes to the highest levels of British Intelligence itself. But someone is always one step ahead, and the closer he gets to the truth, the more he realises he was never meant to solve the case at all.Because at Hawthorn Vale, murder is only the beginning.Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, wartime espionage and atmospheric historical mysteries, The Wickham Affair is a tense and elegant locked-room thriller set against the looming shadow of D-Day.

Pages: 228, Paperback, Independently published