Clive Egleton

Clive Egleton was born in Middlesex in 1927 and educated at Haberdashers Aske’s school. He enlisted under age in the Royal Armoured Corps in 1945 to train as a tank driver and was subsequently commissioned into the South Staffordshire Regiment for whom he served in India, Hong Kong, Germany, Egypt, Cyprus, the Persian Gulf and East Africa before retiring in 1975 in the rank of Lt Colonel.

Widely regarded as one of Britain’s leading thriller writers, he brings years of experience in the Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence fields to his books and has more than thirty novels to his credit, most recently the highly successful spy series featuring Peter Ashton. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. His fourth novel, SEVEN DAYS TO A KILLING, was made into a film starring Michael Caine and released under the title The Black Windmill.

Clive died in March 2006.

When an SIS Operative is killed in a London restaurant shootout, police initially suspect no more than a robbery with drug gangster overtones. But it soon becomes apparent that one of the corpses has more than one name, and a previous misdemeanour was covered from within the depths of Britain's Secret Services. As British Council offices in Pakistan and then Russia are attacked by suicide bombers, it soon becomes apparent that there is a link between an apparently ordinary working lunch and world terrorism. Talal Asir, the banker who financially backed almost every known terrorist organisation, and Ali Mohammed Khalef, the bagman who had distributed the monies on his behalf were two of the most dangerous men in the Middle East. How can Peter Ashton and his colleagues track down and eliminate them?