Blind Detective – serie

First published as Out of Shot under A. C. Koning.Berlin, 1933. The Nazi regime is gaining devastating power as Hitler is appointed Chancellor and stark oppression begins to unfold in Germany, blind war veteran Frederick Rowlands takes on the most challenging investigation of his life .A glamorous film star has been murdered and the menacing political undercurrents drag Rowlands into the heart of the German film industry. Rowlands discovers that he is closer to the action than he originally thought as his young nephew, Billy, was the last one to see the movie star alive. As the violence in Berlin escalates, Rowlands must race to find Billy before someone else does. Someone desperate to conceal the identity of the killer.

First published as End of Term under A. C. Koning. Cambridge, 1935. Frederick Rowlands, blind war veteran, is attending an event at St Gertrude's College. However, the festivities are harshly interrupted when when a research student is found dead in suspicious circumstances.As one of the last people to see the student alive, Rowlands finds himself at the heart of the murder investigation. On the hunt to identify the killer, Rowlands is shocked to learn of the hidden secrets of this seemingly idyllic city. As the violence escalates and the body count increases, Rowlands must act quickly to save St Gertrude's reputation, and his own, before it is too late ...

First published as Twist of Fate under A. C. Koning. Summer, 1937. Frederick Rowlands' peaceful holiday in Cornwall is derailed when a film star is found dead in his hotel. The suspicious nature of Dolores La Mar's death points to murder and Rowlands soon finds himself caught up in the police investigation. When his old flame, Secret Service agent Iris Barnes arrives, it transpires that the killing has links to the political turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. Rowlands and Barnes begin to follow a treacherous trail of Republican revolutionaries which leads them to the dark streets of Barcelona, where they discover that their Cornish murder is more connected to the city than either of them realised. As Europe inches closer towards international conflict, will Rowlands and Barnes make it out of Spain alive?

First published as Line of Sight under A. C. Koning. London, summer 1927. Frederick Rowlands, a First World War veteran who was blinded at Ypres, is working as a switchboard operator in the City when an over-heard telephone conversation draws him into a murder case. From then on, his safe and conventional life, painstakingly reconstructed after the horrors he experienced in the trenches, is shaken to its very foundation. As Fred is drawn deeper into a web of lies and half-truths, he must rely on his remaining senses, as well as his remarkable memory, to uncover the shocking truth about the murder which threatens to undermine everything he holds dear.

First published as Game of Chance under A. C. Koning.1929. Blinded war veteran Frederick Rowlands has escaped the bustle of London to establish a secure life for himself and his family in the countryside. But everything is about to change when an old friend, Chief Inspector Douglas, asks for his assistance in tracking down the killer of a beautiful dancer. That there is a link between the murder and St Dunstan's, the institute for blind ex-servicemen of which Rowlands himself is a member, is only one of the puzzling features of the case.Transported back into the whirl of London in order to unravel the mystery surrounding the dead woman, the Blind Detective is caught up in a deadly game of chance. A series of breathtaking twists and turns force him to confront his past, and to risk everything - including own life - in the process.

Dublin, 1939. As the Second World War looms ever closer, blind war veteran Frederick Rowlands travels to the neutral territory of Ireland at the behest of Celia Swift, whose husband, Lord Castleford, has been receiving mysterious death threats.When a body is discovered, Castleford finds himself being accused of a murder he did not commit. As Castleford's trial begins, Rowlands must fight to save his friend's reputation - and his neck from the gallows. As a country teeters on the knife-edge of war and a man's life hangs in the balance, will the Blind Detective identify the true killer in time?

Spring, 1941. The Second World War has entered a dangerous phase, with British ships being torpedoed in the Atlantic and nightly bombing raids on major ports. At Bletchley Park, top secret home of the nation's code-breakers, the race is on to crack the German Enigma code and thus prevent further naval and military losses. This endeavour is suddenly very close to home for Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of the Great War, when his daughter, Margaret, who works at 'the Park' as a cryptographer, is arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets to the enemy.Then a young woman is found murdered, and Rowlands is drawn into a deadly battle of wits where he must decode a series of clues that will lead him to the killer and enable him to discover the real traitor at Bletchley Park.

Spring, 1941. The struggle of the war continues with grim news of defeats abroad and relentless bombing raids at home. A breakthrough is needed at Bletchley Park where desperate efforts are being made to crack the German Enigma code. This endeavour is suddenly very close to home for Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of the Great War, when his cryptographer daughter, Margaret, is arrested on suspicion of betraying secrets to the enemy. Then a young woman is found murdered and Rowlands is drawn into a deadly battle of wits where he must decode a series of clues that will lead him to the killer and enable him to discover the real traitor at Bletchley Park.

1942. When Frederick Rowlands arrives in the city in answer to an urgent summons, he finds that the effects of war have not bypassed Oxford, which feels more like a military camp than a university town. His old friend and fellow war veteran, Major Ian Fraser, has been told that there is a spy at large in the university and at nearby Blenheim Palace, the heart of British Intelligence. Rowlands swiftly becomes embroiled in matters involving MI5 and enemy agents, but not before a vicious killer strikes.Now the race is on to find the murderer before he - or she - can kill again, and to prevent vital plans for a covert British mission being compromised. For Rowlands, the stakes could not be higher, as a deadly game of cat and mouse plays out .

1942. When Frederick Rowlands arrives in the city in answer to an urgent summons, he finds that the effects of war have not bypassed Oxford, which feels more like a military camp than a university town. His old friend and fellow war veteran, Major Ian Fraser, has been told that there is a spy at large in the university and at nearby Blenheim Palace, the heart of British Intelligence. Rowlands swiftly becomes embroiled in matters involving MI5 and enemy agents, but not before a vicious killer strikes.Now the race is on to find the murderer before he - or she - can kill again, and to prevent vital plans for a covert British mission being compromised. For Rowlands, the stakes could not be higher, as a deadly game of cat and mouse plays out .

April, 1945. In the wake of the Liberation, Paris feels very different to Frederick Rowlands's hazy memories of the city from the time of the Great War. His visit this time is at the behest of MI5 agent, Iris Barnes who is on the hunt for traitors. The key to finding them might be a young woman calling herself Clara Metzner, not long released from Ravensbrück concentration camp. Rowlands last met Clara in Berlin twelve years before, and now has the unenviable task of confirming her identity. Rowlands' blindness aside, Clara's experiences have changed her beyond recognition, but her evidence may be vital for tracking down suspected French collaborators.Then the trip is derailed by a shocking death, and circumstances that point to murder. Thrown into the unfamiliar world of Parisian high society, Rowlands must track down the killer, and prevent further deaths - including his own.

'A sheer delight' Daily Mail April, 1945. Paris has been liberated, but it is not the city blind veteran Frederick Rowlands remembers from the Great War. Summoned by MI5 agent Iris Barnes, Rowlands is drawn into a hunt for traitors and a key witness is a young woman calling herself Clara Metzner, newly released from Ravensbrück concentration camp.Rowlands once met Clara in Berlin twelve years earlier- but the horrors she has endured have changed her beyond recognition, and he must confirm who she really is. But then the investigation is derailed by a shocking death, possibly murder, and Rowlands plunges into the dangerous world of Parisian high society, where secrets linger, loyalties blur and a killer waits in the shadows.