May 1943 - 6 Jun 1945Was Hitler a Satanist? No actual proof has yet emerged, but there is ample evidence to suggest that he regularly consulted occultists.They Used Dark Forces, which is set in the Second World War, features secret agent Gregory Sallust, this time in the company of an ex-Bolshevi...
I'm a huge fan of The Devil Rides Out, the Hammer adaption of Wheatley's previous Duke de Richleau novel. Reading de Richleau is a bit like the supernatural adventures of an aged James Bond. Astral travel and occult doings among British high society. I picked this up along with The Devil Rides Ou...
Toby Jugg is a young fighter pilot in 1942, now confined to a wheelchair after being shot down. He is also the heir to a considerable fortune, a fortune that is being administered by a board of trustees until he comes of age. He is becoming increasingly disturbed by a strange presence, a mysteri...
9 Nov 1939 - 13 Mar 1940The revolt of the German generals had failed and the Nazi purge was mounting in savagery when Gregory Sallust entered Berlin dressed as a Wehrmacht colonel and riding in an official S.S. car. His purpose was to rescue the lovely Erika von Epp, who by now was certain to be ...
23 Jun 1941 - 12 Dec 1941 Come Into My Parlour is the fifth of seven volumes incorporating all the principal events which occurred between September, 1939, and May 1945, covering the activities of Gregory Sallust, one of the most famous Secret Agents ever created in fiction about the Second World...
28 Jul 1783 - Nov 1787 This is the first of Dennis Wheatley's famous historical series in which appears the young man who was afterwards to become Prime Minister Pitt's most resourceful secret agent: Roger Brook. The scene is the England of George III and the France of Marie Antoinette; the tale...
Dennis Wheatly was a very popular writer of British mystery, espionage, and occult from the 30s to the 60s. His heroes were the precursor to James Bond in that they tend to be debonair but manly. If The Forbidden Territory is typical. his characters love adventure, adore the ladies, and relish a ...
Apr 1914 - 18 Sep 1914Spring 1914. At a masked ball, the Duke de Richleau has an intriguing meeting with a beautiful woman.An incident that was to lead the Duke into a series of desperate adventures as he became involved, firstly with The Black Hand, a Serbian, secret, terrorist society, and then...
The weather had turned. The sky was overcast, and a gentle but persistent drizzle saturated everything. From the windows of the big house the grey sweep of the Thames, rolling towards the sea between the low mud flats, showed a cheerless and uninviting prospect. After a hurried breakfast Gregory ...
I burst out. “The fact that I changed my name is not a crime. Besides, in that old business there was not one atom of proof against me.” “Indeed!” he said coldly. “On the other hand there was not one atom of proof to show that you were not in league with your country’s enemies at that time. The v...
In the poky little cabin there was scarcely room to turn round: so he was as near to it as Che-khi. Owing to the low ceiling the heads of both were bent, and turned towards it. In their cramped position there was no possibility of grabbing up some weighty object to smash down upon it, or of sprin...
‘That’s very decent of you. As you made no stipulation that I should keep this to myself I take it that you don’t intend trying to prevent my passing it on?’ Von Ziegler shrugged. ‘I could hardly expect you to do otherwise, and I have no objection at all, since I feel sure that I can rely on you ...
The ship-owner’s explanation had been faultless, his distress at his son’s gangster-like act and concern that he should not marry Merri had carried conviction. Captain Dosen’s attitude towards Julian fully supported his employer’s insistence that both of them were innocent and, finally, Urata’s n...
His grey eyes glittered dangerously but his voice was gentle as he picked the jewelled swastika from his servant’s palm. ‘How did you come by this, Max?’ ‘I removed it from Mr Aron’s neck, Excellency.’ ‘What!’ ‘He rang for me, Excellency, and said that he would like a cup of bouillon and when I r...
‘Yes, I have heard of it. There have been vague references to it from time to time in some of my people’s reports, but it’s evidently a pseudonym for some other place and only referred to under that name by the inner ring. Are you certain it’s at Ismailia?’ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Tell me all you know ab...
His pasty complexion and a quite noticeable paunch gave the impression that physically he was not formidable, but they were deceptive; his broad shoulders gave him the strength of a bull, his long arms the grip of an orangoutang and, in spite of the smallness of his feet, he could move with the s...
‘What the hell do we do now?’ ‘We can either stay here, join the crowd and try and muscle into one of the cars they pull up, or start walking out of London.’ Hemmingway’s voice was quite dispassionate. ‘We might wait here till doomsday,’ she sniffed. ‘It’s really a sort of general post that’s goi...
She had no engagements during the day, so after tidying her flat and doing her week-end shopping she had nothing to occupy her. In turn she tried the radio and reading a thriller, and abandoning both went out to see a film; but even that failed to hold her interest for more than a few minutes at ...
To have escaped the awful prospect which had faced them only two hours ago, to have survived a street battle uninjured, to have thrown their pursuers off the track, and now to be menaced again with all the horrors that the word ‘Moscow’ had conjured up for him since that afternoon, seemed an unbe...
Lovelace insisted when they had finished their meal, “we must face facts. Even to have allowed Valerie to land us here was an abominable risk. It connects the three of us together, and if you, Christopher, succeed in what you’re out to do, the police will start hunting for her directly they find ...
At the same moment he took in the disastrous effect that this idea of the Emperor’s could have on his own plans. No carefree, lazy days in the sunshine of the Riviera; no bathing in the warm sea from a sandy beach; no pleasant expeditions into Nice and St. Tropez, where he might make the acquaint...
It came from Johnny’s bedroom, and he had evidently set it to ensure his waking in time to make an early start for Longshot. I was next door in his sitting-room, to which I had returned after my exciting but abortive contact with Daisy. Disregarding her command to ‘hop it’, I had flung a dozen te...
He could not make up his mind whether he was glad or sorry to see her. But he could not ignore her beckoning hand. Dismounting, and with his horse’s reins over his arm, he made a leg, then put one foot on the step of the carriage and, with a smile, asked: ‘Well, how does it feel to be a Duchess?’...
Now that a battle had begun it seemed certain that both sides would throw in reinforcements and the struggle in that sector would continue for many hours. If he and Zanthé continued to sham dead and within a short time the Muslims re-took the trench they would, as was their custom, slaughter any ...
Lalita stood pointing the gun at them from about six feet away; too far off for there to be any hope of rushing him. His slack mouth broke into a grin and he said: ‘I catch you nicely. Recognising Mr. Rajapakse’s car tell me that he, and perhaps others, come to rescue the old gentlemans. How luck...
Had it been a case of steel to steel he would have chosen a rapier every time, but a blow from a heavy cudgel might easily snap a thin blade; moreover, if driven home by a thrust of any force into the muscle of an antagonist it was liable to become gripped there and prove difficult to pull out. A...
Somehow, he could not think of the dynamic little Canon as dead, or realise that he would never talk and laugh with him again. Among the chaotic jumble of his thoughts he was conscious of his father’s statement that the money for the raft convoy would riot be forthcoming after all, and that he ha...
He now felt certain that Schaub was right and that even on his signature the Gestapo Chief at the Cherche-Midi would never release a prisoner to an ordinary civilian who could produce no special credentials; yet how in thunder could he persuade or force a Gestapo man to co-operate with him? It oc...
In a matter of seconds he was poised above the great, sprawling city. An air-raid was in progress and he paused for a moment to view with interest London as it must appear to a Nazi airman. The broad, curving serpent of the Thames was clearly visible, and that alone was sufficient for him to iden...
‘What are all those palookas so het-up over?’ ‘The Prime Minister!’ gasped the Duke. ‘He’s been assassinated by the Iron Guard. It happened this morning.’ ‘Now we are in a muddle!’ Simon’s head jerked in a nervous spasm. ‘What time did it happen? We must try to find out.’ They turned in their tra...
She knew that she ought to have thought of the possibility of this happening, to have visualised herself in her present terrible situation. But she had not. She had thought that, at worst, Rowley would be stricken with another attack, that he would go purple in the face and become unconscious jus...
The Sir Curtis Beaumont, Sahib, and his Lady. They request receiving.’ At the unexpected news that these good friends too had been rescued, Roger and Clarissa’s faces lit up with joy; but after a second, Clarissa’s fell, and she exclaimed in consternation: ‘Oh, Roger! How can we now receive them?...
They took in the uniformed torso of a State policeman then, as his glance wavered round, another policeman standing a little further off against a background of whitewashed wall with notice-boards on it. That, and the memory of his recent crash, told him that he was in a police station. Behind hi...
The following yarn dates from the early months of my first marriage in 1923. To have a home of my own was grand fun, but proving unexpectedly expensive, and in those days, as my father was still alive, I was not yet burdened with the responsibilities of a business. In consequence my thoughts turn...