The Quality of Mercy

Synopsis

When the Nazis seize Austria in March 1938, Verity Browne – the New Gazette’s correspondent in Vienna – is one of the first to be deported as a well-known anti-Fascist. Before she leaves, she is able to arrange for a young Jew, Georg Dreiser, to escape to England, but where he expects to find safety he finds danger and sudden death.

Lord Edward Corinth also finds death where it is least expected, in the grounds of Lord Mountbatten’s country house, Broadlands. There to meet his friend the Maharaja of Batiala, Edward’s nephew Frank stumbles on a corpse. The police are satisfied that the man, identified as Peter Gray, a painter of some reputation, died of natural causes but his niece, Vera, persuades Edward that not all is as it seems.

Lord Mountbatten introduces Edward to Guy Liddell, a senior figure in the shadowy organization known, if at all, as MI5. Liddell asks Edward to investigate theactivities of some prominent enemies of the state and Edward is put on his mettle to prove that he is no amateur detective but a ‘professional’, whatever that means in the murky world of spies and counterspies.

Between them, Edward and Verity investigate two murders and Verity’s eyes are opened to what has been glaringly obvious to all their friends that Edward is the man she loves and that her destiny is to be his
partner in life as well as in crime.

Reviews

Lord Weidenfeld
A refreshing period feel and a skilfully crafted work
of original fiction. David Roberts is one of my
favourite solutions for pleasant distraction

American Publishers Weekly
As usual, his thorough knowledge of the period adds
luster to the story.

Kirkus
Roberts's effortless grasp of his subject and era are matched by his pitch-perfect prose.

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