White Witch of the South Seas

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.com
The White Witch of the South Seas is the eleventh in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.

A spellbinding story of adventure and intrigue told in the true Wheatley tradition, featuring Gregory Sallust who, when visiting Rio de Janeiro, becomes drawn into perilous action. Circumstance leads to him becoming the friend of a young South Seas Rajah, Ratu James Omboluku, there to secure finance to recover treasure from a sunken ship lying off the island he rules; and he intends to use this treasure for the betterment of his people.

But others, led by the unscrupulous Pierre Lacost, are also planning to recover the treasure, and it is not long before Gregory, having an affair with the passionate Manon de Bois-Tracy, finds himself surrounded by murder, magic, blackmail, kidnapping and some of the most ruthless thugs he has ever encountered.