Published in 1928, this fast-paced adventure novel reflects growing concerns that there would be another war with Germany and that German spies were constantly trying to gather British secrets about technical developments such as poisonous gases. These had been used with dreadful effect in WW1, a conflict that many of the adult males in the book were involved in. According to the author, the British wanted the formula to keep it safe so nobody else could use it - an argument still used to support keeping nuclear arms today. It's worth noting that Cyclon B, which killed thousands in the gas chambers from 1941, was already in use as a common commercial pesticide.
This is another in the series of Winter and Furneaux novels which is fascinating for many reasons - the investigative methods of the time, the description of North Yorkshire life, the accepted prejudices of the era (I have never heard the phrase 'not a proper white man' used to refer to Germans) , the lifestyle of the upper middle class, and attitudes towards educated women. But you can read it just as a good story; it's certainly that.
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K. Fearon
Inter-war adventure novel
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 31, 2012