Paul Temple and the Curzon Case

An aeroplane crash sends billows of fire down the cliffs of Dulworth Bay and two boys from a public school go missing, what connects these two events? Paul Temple is called onto the scene and there’s one name that’s causing a stir, Curzon.

The mysterious name appears etched on a cricket bat that belongs to one of the missing Baxter boys, but family members and village folk have never even heard of it. As another boy vanishes followed by a devastating murder, Paul has to act swiftly and determine the unknown identity of the killer to put an end to Curzon’s reign of terror.

Reviews

‘Francis Durbridge, made [Paul and Steve’s] adventures utterly enchanting within that shivering threadbare postwar reality.’–The Telegraph

‘A classy period piece, all clipped accents, glamour and a smoking and drinking count to rival Mad Men. Great fun and surprisingly gripping.’ –The Guardian

About the author

Francis Henry Durbridge was born 25th November 1912 in Hull, England. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, where he was encouraged to write by his English teacher. He continued to do so while studying English at Birmingham University. After graduating in 1933, he worked for a short time as a stockbroker's clerk before selling a radio play, Promotion, to the BBC at the age of 21.

In 1938, Durbridge created the character Paul Temple, a crime novelist and detective. With Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist and later his wife, Temple solved numerous crimes in the glamorous world of the leisured middle classes, first on radio, then in films and, from 1969 to 1971, in a television series. In addition to the Paul Temple series, Durbridge wrote other mysteries for radio and television, many of which were also produced for German and Italian television and radio.
Durbridge also forged a successful career as a writer for the stage with seven plays, the last of which, Sweet Revenge, was written in 1991. He also wrote 43 novels, many of which were adapted from his scripts, sometimes with the help of others.

Durbridge married Norah Lawley in 1940, they had two sons. He died at his home in Barnes, aged 85 on 11th April 1998.