Dennis Wheatley – författare

Dennis Wheatley''s first published novel, introducing his modern trinity of musketeers in the epicurean Duke de Richleau, financier Simon Aron, and the wealthy young American, Rex Van Ryn.The Duke receives a coded message from his missing friend, Van Ryn who, while hunting for treasure lost during the Soviet takeover of Russia, is now in prison somewhere in that vast country.Along with the Duke, good friends Simon Aron and Richard Eaton set off on a secret mission to secure his escape. Without official papers they lead a thrilling caper, hunted by the Secret Police, through Siberia and across the plains of Soviet Russia.

The aristocratic Duke de Richleau faces new, sinister challenges in this macabre tale of the dark arts. When his good friend Simon Aron''s naïve curiosity is tested, the Duke, along with his ever-patient friends Rex Van Ryn, and Richard Eaton, must intricately plot a means of both physical and spiritual rescue. But with Van Ryn''s affections for a beautiful woman caught in the web of Satanists, and Eaton''s ongoing scepticism, they all risk being brought to the verge of madness through dabbling with the powers of evil.From London to the West Country, the slums of Paris to a Christian monastery, the action of this powerful occult thriller moves with fantastic, compelling force.

Spain is writhing in the torment of Civil War. In a Madrid bank lays ten tons of gold: and both sides want it. The lovely Countess Lucretia Coralles, known to the rebels as ''The Golden Spaniard'', leads the double life of a secret agent. And she has other secrets too… The Duke de Richleau''s mission is to retrieve the gold, hidden somewhere in the war torn country, before the communists. In calling on his usual companions for support he finds that their sympathies lie with his enemy, and very soon the formally indomitable trio are trying to outwit one another in a potentially lethal treasure hunt."He forcibly abducts the imagination." - The Evening Standard "The word thriller has never been more aptly bestowed." - The News Chronicle

Murder in the rich atmosphere of London's Clubland – here is Dennis Wheatley at his thrilling best in this classic, meticulous whodunnit.The detective force, always a step ahead of the police force, brings together the connoisseur Duke de Richleau, a husky American millionaire and a young man-about-town on a charge of matricide.

When the bombs fall on London, the elderly Duke de Richleau is forced to consider a problem of the utmost urgency. What methods are the Germans using to discover – with sinister effect – the secret routes of the Atlantic convoys? His answer is bizarre and fantastic. Could it really be that the enemy are in touch with supernatural powers? Can these powers only be overcome by those who have the knowledge and courage to join battle with them on the Astral Plane? The Duke and his supporters face the terrifying challenge from the Powers of Darkness.

When the Second World War opened, the Duke de Richleau and his friends Simon Aron, Rex van Ryn and Richard Eaton – the indomitable four – were in Poland. How did they come to be there and find themselves, even before the outbreak of hostilities, involved in conspiracy? Scenes of intrigue, violence and escape in Warsaw are exceeded only by those which follow in Bucharest–whence the friends are carried in a desperate attempt to sabotage Hitler''s war economy, and force Germany to ask for peace before their full-blown assault on Western Europe.In 1963, Arrow Books began including this statement in all works of this title: It can now be revealed that the plot of Codeword–Golden Fleece is based on fact. Actually, it was given to Dennis Wheatley when he was a member of the Joint Planning Staff of the War Cabinet by a Foreign Office colleague there. On behalf of the Allied governments a French nobleman did actually succeed in acquiring a controlling interest in the Danube oil barges and their tugs. The Germans failed with the Vichy government in an action for its return and half the Fleet had been got out to Turkish waters. Supplies of fuel for the Luftwaffe were seriously crippled by this ingenious secret stroke.

For years Colonel Verney had suspected a link between devil-worship and the subversive influence of Soviet Russia. When they found Teddy Morden''s crucified body, he knew his grimmest fears were justified and that world peace was also endangered.Barney Sullivan is a secret agent who, horrified by the death of one of his colleagues whose body was rendered unrecognisable, investigates Communist activities which threaten the security of the West. Mary Morden has a past which enables her to put moral scruples aside – as she knows she must if she is to triumph over evil and bring the Devil worshipers to justice.

'One of the most popular storytellers of the century.' - The TelegraphA businessman makes a deal with a satanic clergymen, and has his daughter baptised into Satan’s church. Twenty-one years later, provided she is still a virgin, she is destined to be the centrepiece of a hideous satanic ritual. Molly Fountain, a tough-minded Englishwoman who worked for the British Intelligence during the war, has retreated to her French cottage to write. Next door she finds a new, mysterious neighbour, an intriguing young girl named Christina.Why did the solitary girl leave her rented house only for short walks at night? Why was she so frightened? Why did animals shrink away from her? Molly and her son are determined to save Christina from the clutches of what promises to be a fate worse than death.

Spring 1914. At a masked ball, the Duke de Richleau has an intriguing meeting with a beautiful woman - an incident that was to lead to a series of desperate adventures with a Serbian; a secret; a terrorist society; then as a British secret agent at the Austrian Supreme Headquarters. The capers culminate in the Battle of the Marne – the operation that shattered Germany's chance of victory. Through the violence, intrigue and hair's-breadth escapes, there runs alongside the story of a great love.

Why would a French aristocrat renounce his country and live in exile? The answer lies in the Paris of the 1890s; a world of superficial glamour but, under the surface, deep social and political strife. The army, discredited by the Dreyfus case, was being purged. The young de Richleau, cadet and then instructor at the military academy of St. Cyr, became involved in a conspiracy - to restore the French monarchy - with the Duc de Vendome being secretly coached in his future role of King.What happens if the conspiracy is betrayed? For some: death. For de Richleau, the life of a fugitive who has declared a single-handed vendetta against the government.

Spain, 1906. The Duke de Richleau has not yet succeeded his father, and is still the Count de Quesnoy. Anarchism permeates every country in Europe, and not a night passes without groups of fanatics meeting in cellars to plan attempts with knives, pistols or bombs against the representatives of law and order. A bomb outrage gives de Quesnoy ample cause to vow vengeance on the assassins. His attempt to penetrate anarchist circles in Barcelona nearly costs him his life. In San Sebastian, Granada and Cadiz he hunts and is hunted by them in a ruthless vendetta. A rich novel packed with true history, subtle intrigue, sudden violence, terrorism, blackmail and suspense, alongside the bitter-sweet romance between gallant young de Quesnoy and the beautiful Condesa Gulia.

First published in 1965, this is the final installment of the Duke De Richleau series… The years have moved on, and De Richleau has relocated from his London pad to an apartment in the Mediterranean. His great friends visit on occasion, and on this one both Rex''s son and Richard Eaton''s daughter (first seen as a little girl in The Devil Rides Out), paving the way for a young romance to blossom amongst the action. But interwoven with the the story of love is a strange inheritance that draws the whole party to Sri Lanka, where they are destined to face theft, murder, arson and blackmail. De Richleau, at the eleventh hour, is forced to take a last desperate gamble, alone, to save his friends.

The door was not locked, and opened easily. He switched on the light, and Richard followed him into the room. Nella lay on the bed. She had on the nightdress she had been lent, but the bedclothes had been pulled halfway down. Her head was twisted back grotesquely. Her mouth gaped open and her tongue had been cut out. It had been carefully placed in the valley between her naked breasts.The Duke de Richleau and his friends had faced many dangers in Russia, Spain and Nazi Germany. Now, a new and unexpected menace confronts them: the fourth member of their group, Rex van Ryn, is missing – and he has made off with more than a million dollars from the Buenos Aires branch of his family bank.Behind the conventional courtesy of Argentinian society lies a conspiracy of terror and silence – and a trail that leads straight to the Devil himself . . .

1938 - 20 Jan 1939Julian Day, while seeking revenge upon those who had ruined his career in the Diplomatic Service, becomes drawn into a quest for treasure, buried for over 2,000 years. It was for lovely Sylvia Shane that Julian decided to set out upon his quest, but it was the damnably dangerous yet adorable Princess Oonas Shahamalek who delayed his going.Julian's quest takes him through a night in the Tomb of the Sacred Bulls in Alexandria, dope-running in the City of the Dead outside Cairo, white-slaving on the Suez Canal, a fight for life in a Pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, to the final dénouement in the middle of the waterless Libyan Desert, 500 miles from civilization.

Sep 1939 - 27 Apr 1941''Between your body and his,'' the old Arab woman told the lovely Greek-ltalian girl, Daphnis, ''lies the Sword of Fate.''In the battle-scarred days of 1940 Julian Day finds himself in Alexandria – in a whirlpool of intrigue and spy-rings. He falls under suspicion both from his fellow countrymen and the Germans. Driven by conflicting loyalties, he sets sail for Greece and the ill-starred campaign of 1941, and, determined to sheath the Sword of Fate, he journeys into the heart of enemy-held territory. The danger is desperate; the price of failure – death.

This macabre tale begins with a box. A Japanese father is sent the severed head of his son.Merri Sang knew nothing of this, and neither did Julian Day nor Bill Urata, both of whom were in love with her; but the father's thirst for revenge brought all three of them into deadly peril.The story moves swiftly to a modern day Hong Kong as we follow the web of characters, where capture and death are around each corner and trust has been long forgotten. When Merri is kidnapped, her mother devises a plan to get her back, but Julian must muster all of his courage to carry it out, and perhaps his love rival will help, but maybe only if there's something in it for him at the end.

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comContraband is the first in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.Gregory Sallust is a British Intelligence agent; a self-reliant thrill seeker with a love of adventure and a weakness for women.As Sallust enjoys a holiday in France before starting a new mission, he is intrigued by a beautiful woman in a casino. Captivated by the elusive Sabine, he follows her to a rendezvous with a mystery airman at midnight. The next morning, Sallust finds himself under attack and, although he escapes danger, Sabine disappears.Returning to England, Sallust discovers a ring of smugglers orchestrating the dispatch of heavy bombers with contraband goods. When he discovers that an inspector from Scotland Yard is also on the case, and that Sabine may be involved, his loyalties are torn.In a thrilling start to the Gregory Sallust series, Contraband is a story of international intrigue where planes flit by night to secret landing grounds, and near-death experiences are masterfully stretched to nail-biting conclusions.

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comThe Scarlet Imposter is the second in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.It is 1940, and Gregory Sallust is tasked with contacting an anti-Nazi organisation in Germany who are preparing to overthrow Hitler and sue for peace.In a series of clever disguises, Sallust masquerades his way through challenge after challenge, surrounded by some of the most vicious and determined Nazis of the Third Reich.A page-turning thriller packed with action, menace and a dangerous romance, The Scarlet Impostor is classic Wheatley - politically charged and heroically rendered from the first page."Adventures with the Gestapo, assorted plotters and a beautiful woman of mystery will keep your eyes glued to it for 450 pages!" - New York Herald Tribune

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comFaked Passports is the third in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.When British Agent Gregory Sallust''s escape plane is shot down, he is stranded and wanted in Nazi Germany. The first port of call for the brazen Sallust is to rescue the newly captured Erika von Epp, certain to be in the hands of Nazi torturers, by talking his way into the private sanctum of Hermann Goering.In this robust and hair-raising tale of adventure, Sallust takes on a number of disguises to get himself into, and out of, nail-bitingly dangerous situations in order to triumph and hopefully to win the heart of von Epp.

A stirring psychological thriller adapted into the movie The Haunted Airman starring Robert Pattinson.Toby Jugg, a fighter pilot shot down in combat, is now confined to his bed with little hope of walking again. He is also the heir to a considerable fortune - a fortune that is being administered by a board of trustees until he comes of age.But night after night, out there in the moonlight, Something was trying to get in at the bedroom window. A huge malevolent Something. Something not of this world. Inside, Toby thought first that he was hallucinating, then that he must be going mad, finally that this evil Something was real and striving to reach him.So begins what is probably Dennis Wheatley''s most terrifying story of the supernatural. The struggle which ensues brings Toby unexpected help but also treachery as it moves inexorably towards an appalling confrontation and seemingly inevitable catastrophe.

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comBlack August is chronologically the tenth in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series, albeit the first title published in the series, featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.Black August is set in a terrifying future Europe on the verge of collapse; financial breakdown and revolution, civilian panic, street-fighting and an uncontrolled exodus from the cities to the countryside, where bands of starving people wander, pillaging for food.Out of the terror and the bloodshed steps the former British secret agent Gregory Sallust, to take the leadership of a group of men and women seeking only to survive: to lead them through hardship and hazard to a rural settlement which they fortify against invasion, and which, at first, seems reasonably secure.

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comThe Black Baroness is the fourth in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.During the seventy terrific days from Hitler''s invasion of Norway in April to the surrender of the French in June, British Secret Agent Gregory Sallust infiltrates enemy lines to foil the Führer''s plans for domination.While in Oslo, Sallust uncovers Hitler''s secret weapon: young, beautiful and respectable Nazi women who use their charms to seduce neutral politicians and turn them pro-German.These women are led by the Black Baroness, a French Nazi whose powers of persuasion overcome even Mussolini. Sallust tracks the Baroness across France and Italy trying to stop her before it''s too late. "An exciting tale of espionage and counterespionage...Thrills, intrigue and action from the invasion of Norway to the fall of France." - Los Angeles Times

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comV for Vengeance is the fifth in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.France has fallen to the Nazis, and British secret agent Gregory Sallust is in Vichy, as determined as ever to overthrow the iron rule of the Third Reich. Nursed back to health by Madeleine Lavalliere, he leaves Paris just as the Germans march into the capital. Little does he realise that there is more to Madeleine than meets the eye, and that he was destined to meet up with her once more. Together they evolve a plan which could inflict irreparable damage upon the Nazis, but one so dangerous that their escape is in no way guaranteed."Without a doubt, Mr. Wheatley''s best espionage yarn to date." The New York Times

'Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comCome Into My Parlour is the sixth in Dennis Wheatley's bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming's James Bond.In Come Into My Parlour, British secret agent Gregory Sallust is in the Soviet Union, just as the Communist nation enters war against Nazi Germany. There to counter Gregory's plans is his arch-enemy, Gruppenführer Grabber, as anxious as ever to settle the long-standing score which has existed between them. As plot and counter-plot carry the story to a Swiss lakeside villa, the final scenes are played out in a sinister castle situated deep in the heart of a German forest.

''Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.'' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.comThe Island Where Time Stands Still is the ninth in Dennis Wheatley''s bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming''s James Bond.On a pleasure cruise on the South Seas, Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust''s yacht hits a coral reef and sinks in minutes. Only one survivor is washed to the safety of the shore: Gregory Sallust.But this is no ordinary Pacific island. When Gregory regains consciousness he finds himself among a Chinese community, ruled by descendents of the ancient Imperial House. Within days the throne becomes vacant, and Gregory joins an expedition to find the true heir - a hazardous search that takes him to San Francisco, and deep into the forbidden heart of China itself.