The Poisoned Rock‘Robert Daws is an exciting addition to the canon of 20th century crime writers.’Peter James. International bestselling author of the Insp Roy Grace series.With only five weeks to go before the end of her secondment to the Royal Gibraltar Police Force, D.S. Tamara Sullivan is enjoying life on the Rock. With one murder investigation successfully under their belts, Sullivan and her … belts, Sullivan and her commanding officer, Chief Inspector Gus Broderick, settle down to regular police work under the sunny Mediterranean skies.
In London, the British Government has declassified a large number of top secret files regarding British Military Intelligence operations during World War Two. One file, concerning espionage operations on Gibraltar, has been smuggled out of the U.K. to Spain. It contains information that will draw Sullivan and Broderick into the dark and treacherous world of wartime Gibraltar. A place where saboteurs and espionage plots abounded. Where double and triple agents from Britain, Germany and Spain were at war in a treacherous and deadly game of undercover operations.
As the summer heat reaches its zenith in Gibraltar Town, a film crew has arrived on the Rock to shoot a movie about one of the most enigmatic and legendary spies of the war years – ‘The Queen of Diamonds’. Starring Hollywood A-lister Julia Novacs and produced by local born film maker, Gabriel Isolde, it is the talk of the Rock.
It is only a matter of time before past and present collide and a dangerous battle begins to conceal the truth about the Rock’s poisonous wartime history. Detectives Sullivan and Broderick become caught in a tangled web of intrigue and murder that will once again test their skills and working relationship to the very limit.
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The Poisoned Rock…
is the second Sullivan and Broderick murder mystery by actor and broadcaster Robert Daws.
‘During the early years of WW2, the Allies possessed not a single spot of ground
in Western Europe, except for the Gibraltar fortress. As General Eisenhower
noted – Gib was the key to the Mediterranean. And yet Gibraltar was an intelligence nightmare.
German and Spanish agents spied relentlessly on every move that was made on the Rock. It was a stage on which one of WW2’s most absorbing intelligence battles was played out.’
British Security Service, MI5
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I enjoyed reading this book. I looked forward to picking up to resume reading where I left off.
I enjoyed following the story around the Rock. The Rock is one of my favorite places to visit.
Slow start and confusing but after a spell one begins to catch on to the author’s historical retracement. Builds to a great finish.
This is an interesting read. Well written and interesting.
This book showed insight into a previously unknown side of Gibraltar. Looking forward to more from the characters.
A poignant WWII story
Enjoyed every page. Good story theme.
Well written. No romance. I didn’t want to put it down. Was surprised at ‘who did it’.
I liked this book.
I enjoyed learning more about the British connection to The Rock that I had not fully understood. All of this was learnt in the midst of a good historical fiction espionage story.
This was an okay mystery with good characters. However, the ending left me unsatisfied. The book set up a number of possible suspects, and then changed direction at the end.
This is the second novel I’ve read in the past half year with the same basic premise: a pretty, young policewoman from England is seconded to Gibraltar because of a serious breach of authority. The head of the Gibraltar force is a beautiful woman with a will of iron. The newbie is partnered with an older and somewhat stodgy native Gibraltan whose wife has died and left him with two daughters to care for. One of the daughers in each book is named Penny. One is a teenager and the other not yet adolescent. One daughter in each novel has Down’s syndrome! You’d think the two authors met over coffee, came up with a single outline, then taook off to write their individual books. Unfortunately, this is the lesser of the two works. You’re hardly getting into things when the crime is solved, almost as if by magic, and the story ends, as though the author got tired of writing and wanted to close it all down.
Not to bad for a mystery book. The plot was a little different in that two different country police force where involved in the investigation. Gibraltar and Spain being the police forces involved.
Enjoyed Gibraltar as locale
I know the whole idea of a detective novel is to have you surprised when you find out “who done it”. While the book was an enjoyable read, the ending was quite a stretch.
Too many characters and too much time travel and location jumping to follow. Gave up on this. However, it did spur me to research Gibraltar’s history, which is fascinating indeed.
starts out too slow and mysterious in order to avoid giving too much away too soon, but I very much enjoyed the last half.
Review altready given
Really like the fact that it’s a stand alone book that’s part of a series. No need to read the first volume and the story in this second volume ended so you aren’t being suckered into having to buy the next volume.
A great book. Could not put it Diebold once I started reading it from page 1.