The Stieglitz Operation

An old friend of Professor-Hubert Smithson-Hunt writes to him concerning the appearance of a Military Cross on a TV antiques programme, having realised its connection with a failed clandestine British Intelligence operation during the Second World War. His letter sets Anna and Martin Price off on one of their most intriguing and hazardous investigations.

Against her better judgement, Simone D'Amboise was persuaded to take her grandfather's Military Cross along to a TV antiques show - it was unusual for a member of the Royal Air Force to be awarded an MC, but not unheard of. After the TV programme is broadcast she is approached by an author and historian named Professor Cadette, but her policeman boyfriend does not trust the man's motives. Rather than involve his personal life with his work he asks Anna and Martin Price if they would make some unofficial enquiries about the man.

Those enquiries uncover a trail of murder and blackmail reaching from the French village of Dirac in the dark days of the German occupation in World War II, through to the dubious activities of Simone's grandfather and a former German Abwehr officer in East Berlin during the 1950's.

It belatedly becomes clear that the events occurring at Château Dirac during the German occupation provide the motive for murder and housebreaking which occur during 2015 as the investigation unfolds.

What the journey to France by two of King Charles Stuart's former Cavaliers has to do with the events of 2015 leads not only to Martin almost losing his life, but to an astonishing discovery which profoundly affects the lives of all who are involved.