Previously published as Stalin's Gold.

PRAISE FOR THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DCI FRANK MERLIN SERIES:

'A richly atmospheric, authentic, and suspenseful detective series' JOSEPH FINDER, NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Masterly . . . compelling . . . one of the most attractive characters to emerge in recent detective-thriller fiction' ANDREW ROBERTS, SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

'Against the backdrop of Blitz-hit London, this stylish thriller sees Scotland Yard's Frank Merlin investigate a tangled conspiracy' SUNDAY MIRROR

As the Battle of Britain rages above, DCI Frank Merlin and his officers investigate the sudden disappearance of Polish RAF pilot Ziggy Kilinski - while battling the looting unleashed by the chaos and destruction of the Blitz.

Unbeknownst to Merlin and his team, Russian spies have also been set loose on the city - instructed to retrieve Stalin's lost gold.

Kilinski's fellow pilots, a disgraced Cambridge don, members of the Polish government in exile and a ruthless Russian gangster are amongst those caught up in Merlin's enquiries.

Sweeping from Stalin's Russia to Civil War Spain, Hitler's Berlin to Churchill's London, a compelling story of treasure, treachery, and murder unfolds.

Mark Ellis is a thriller writer from Swansea and a former barrister and entrepreneur. Mark grew up under the shadow of his parents' experience of the Second World War. His father served in the wartime navy and died a young man. His mother told him stories of watching the heavy bombardment of Swansea from the safe vantage point of a hill in Llanelli, and of attending tea dances in wartime London under the bombs and doodlebugs.

In consequence, Mark has always been fascinated by World War II and, in particular, the Home Front and the fact that while the nation was engaged in a heroic endeavour, crime flourished. Murder, robbery, theft and rape were rife.

Author of the DCI Frank Merlin series, Mark is also a member of the Crime Writer's Association.

He lives in London.