PROPERTY OF BLOOD First published by Diogenes Verlag, Zurich. Availability: Soho Press NY, hardback $23.00 and paperback, $12.00 Heinemann, London £15.99 and Arrow paperback, £5.99 Now available on audiocassettes. Complete and unabridged.8 tapes. Published by Chivers Audio Books. £16.99 Sunday Times audio book of the week.

PROPERTY OF BLOOD

An American woman, widow of a Florentine aristocrat, rescues the failing family fortunes by setting up a successful fashion house. When she is kidnapped and a huge ransom demanded, her children once again face ruin. Her terrible ordeal, in all its cruel detail, is recounted to Marshal Guarnaccia who risks his career and his life to save her.

‘The marshal isn’t clever...but he has sound common sense, honesty, a dogged respect for humanity in all its forms. He cares about people, and in the end his care is their salvation.’ Celia Dale in 100 Great Detectives, Xanadu, 1991.