Forests of the Night: A Johnny Hawke Novel

by David Stuart Davies

Overview

Forests of the Night introduces the intrepid John Hawke, an exciting new detective operating in London during the Blitz.

When World War II breaks out in London, young policeman John Hawke enlists in the army. His dreams of fighting for his country, however, are cut short after he loses an eye in rifle training. Invalided out of the army and offered a desk job with the police, John sets up as a private investigator in London instead, hoping for excitement and danger.

In the autumn of 1940, John is engaged to investigate the mysterious death of a young woman. What is the connection between her brutal murder and the fading film actor Gordon Moore? Johnny also becomes involved in the plight of a runaway boy who may have witnessed something terrible.

Told with wit and humor, while evoking an atmospheric picture of the home front during the dark days of the Second World War, Forests of the Night is an impressive U.S. debut for David Stuart Davies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312360047
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/09/2007
Series:	Johnny Hawke Novels , #1
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 5.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

An internationally recognized expert on Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, David Stuart Davies is the editor of the crime fiction magazine Sherlock and the author of several books on Sherlock Holmes. He also edits the Crime Writers' Association's monthly Red Herrings magazine. Forests of the Night was his first Johnny Hawke novel. He lives in West Yorkshire, England.

Editorial Reviews

Skillfully crafted.” —Baker Street Journal on THE TANGLED SKEIN

“A thundering good yarn which scores in pace and incident….I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who loves a good, old fashioned page turner.” —Sherlock Holmes The Detective Magazine on THE SCROLL OF THE DEAD

“Davies is prepared to put his own inventive stamp on a traditional...story in order to raise it above the usual expectations to provide a different perspective and yet remain true to the spirit of the original.” —Sleuthing the Shelves on SHADOW OF THE RAT

“David Stuart Davies, an expert on recreating the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, has a style so similar to Conan Doyle that a reader could be fooled.” —The Library Association Record on SHADOW OF THE RAT

“An incisive portrait of a troubled man, and one which comes highly recommended.” —Yorkshire Post on BENDING THE WILLOW: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes

“Absorbing story – one of those hard-to-put-down books with a smashing finale. I do not hesitate to recommend it.” —Classic Specialties on THE VEILED DETECTIVE

“Brilliant.” —The District Messenger on THE VEILED DETECTIVE

From the Publisher

Noted Sherlock Holmes expert Davies (Veiled Detective) launches a new series with this competent, if unspectacular whodunit set in WWII London and featuring Johnny Hawke, who has just started a new career as a PI after a misfiring gun cost him his left eye and a career in the army. His caseload is fairly run-of-the-mill until Eric and Freda Palfrey enlist him to trace their missing 27-year-old daughter, Pamela. Hawke soon finds that the plain, middle-class girl had been living a double life, and that her secret role as a high-class prostitute has led to her death, probably at the hands of one of her clients, one of whom is a prominent film star. With its decent atmospherics, this novel compares favorably to John Gardner's WWII Suzie Mountford series (Troubled Midnight, etc.), but Davies's workmanlike prose doesn't match that of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge series or Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mysteries. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Having been invalided out of the army after losing an eye in an accident, former policeman Johnny Hawke sets up shop as as a private investigator in 1940 London. He is asked to find a shy and unattractive young woman working for a legal firm. Hawke not only discovers that she is leading a double life (she moonlights as a highly paid call girl) but that she has been murdered. Featuring a likable detective who faces adversity without complaint and finds time to help people in need, Davies's nicely plotted debut mystery will have historical fans looking for its follow-up. Davies, a Sherlock Holmes expert and editor of the Crime Writers Association's magazine Red Herrings,lives in West Yorkshire, England. [Library marketing campaign planned.]

—Jo Ann Vicarel

Library Journal

A fledgling private detective in wartime London tries to save a wary urchin while solving an unsavory case. In 1939, an accident on the rifle range costs Johnny Hawke an eye and puts an abrupt end to his army career. With no prospects and a yearning for adventure, he opens Hawke Investigations. An intertwined first-person narrative follows a little boy named Peter as he runs away from his prostitute mother. Hawke takes him in, but the skittish boy empties Hawke's wallet and takes off in the middle of the night. Their paths cross several more times through Hawke's first big case, which he gets with the help of Scotland Yard pal David Llewellyn. The Palfreys, a colorless couple, want help finding their missing daughter, Pamela, who worked for solicitor Leo Epstein. Pictures show a plain and conservative young woman, but Epstein's typist, Eve Kendal, remembers Pamela as a beautiful and provocatively dressed girl with heavy makeup. Epstein slept with her, and she used her sexuality to gain a foothold in the lowest rungs of the movie business, at Renown Pictures. When Pamela is found stabbed to death, suspicion falls on her boyfriend, Samuel Fraser, but Hawke finds likelier suspects when he digs deeper into the girl's dangerous life. Sherlock Holmes expert Davies (The Veiled Detective, 2004, etc.) effectively captures the London of a later era in this taut page-turner.

Kirkus Reviews