A mystery in modern-day rural Ireland may have roots in World War II, in this thriller by a “fine dramatic writer and storyteller” (Booklist).

The elderly German, Karl Uxkull, was either senile or desperate for attention. Why else would he concoct a tale of Nazi atrocity on the remote island of Delphi, off the coast of Donegal? And why now, sixty years after the event, just when Irish-American billionaire Shay Govern has tendered for a gold prospecting license in Lough Swilly?

Journalist Tom Noone doesn’t want to know. With his young daughter Emily to provide for, and a new ghostwriting commission for Shay Govern’s biography, the timing is all wrong. Besides, can it be mere coincidence that Karl Uxkull’s tale bears an uncanny resemblance to a thriller written by spy novelist Sebastian Devereaux, the reclusive English author who has spent the past fifty years holed up on Delphi?

But when a body is discovered drowned, Tom and Emily find themselves running for their lives in pursuit of the truth that is their only hope of survival.

“Burke has a real knack for dialogue and phrasing. ” —Publishers Weekly

“Readers … will be rewarded with an unholy Chinese box of a thriller. Make that an Irish-German box. ” —Kirkus Reviews

© 2015 Severn House (Ebook): 9781780106151

Release date

Ebook: April 1, 2015