London, June 1940. When the body of silent screen star Mabel Morgan is found impaled on railings in Fitzrovia, the coroner rules her death as suicide, but DI Ted Stratton of the CID is not convinced. Despite opposition from his superiors, he starts asking questions, and it becomes clear that Morgan's fatal fall from a high window may have been the work of one of Soho's most notorious gangsters. MI5 agent Diana Calthrop, working with senior official Sir Neville Apse, is leading a covert operation when she discovers that her boss is involved in espionage. She must tread carefully - Apse is a powerful man, and she can't risk threatening the reputation of the Secret Service. Only when Stratton's path crosses Diana's do they start to uncover the truth. But as they discover Morgan's connection with Apse and their mutual links to a criminal network and a secretive pro-fascist organisation, they begin to realise that the intrigues of the Secret Service are alarmingly similar to the machinations of war-torn London's underworld.
Stratton's War
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"Stratton's War should certainly swell the ranks of Laura Wilson aficianados" (CRIME TIME )
'Totally deserving of the 2008 Crime Writers Association / Ellis Peters Historical Award, it's well researched, well written and brilliantly plotted.' (SAINSBURYS MAGAZINE )
'Wilson has established a reputation for stylish psychological crime; the first in her series featuring decent copper Stratton is enriched with warmth and humour as well.' (GUARDIAN )
A breathtakingly good novel that weaves credible fiction onto fact, brilliantly evoking wartime London.' (HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER )
'Totally deserving of the 2008 Crime Writers Association / Ellis Peters Historical Award, it's well researched, well written and brilliantly plotted.' (SAINSBURYS MAGAZINE )
'Wilson has established a reputation for stylish psychological crime; the first in her series featuring decent copper Stratton is enriched with warmth and humour as well.' (GUARDIAN )
A breathtakingly good novel that weaves credible fiction onto fact, brilliantly evoking wartime London.' (HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER )
Heather O'Donaghue, TLS
'Laura Wilson's earlier novel The Lover, set in wartime London, was rightly praised for its evocation of place and period, and she is equally successful with Stratton's War. This is not simply a question of period detail ... it is deep in the language of the novel, in the speech of the characters, even in the narrative voice. Everything sounds authentic.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a lengthy, intricate and necessarily leisurely read. It is also a very absorbing one. Wartime London amidst the bombs and blackout makes a bleak but graphic canvas for murder, nascent Fascism and subversive intrigue. The two protagonists, Stratton and Diana - robust policeman and refined Secret Service recruit (loosely based on real life agent Joan Miller) - are believable and sympathetically drawn, and their widely differing milieux realistically portrayed. Indeed, one of the strengths of the novel is the way that Laura Wilson collates and blends the various professional fields, domestic contexts and social strata. The suave and seamy, the urbane and humdrum, crisp ruthlessness and crude thuggery are deftly manipulated to produce a thriller of compelling realism. The pace may be leisurely but the prose is delivered with clarity, style and punchy humour; and the auxiliary characters - such as M I 5 chief Forbes-James, or Diana's distasteful husband - are sharply defined. Blackmail, espionage, illicit sex, unexplained deaths - yes, these are the classic ingredients of crime fiction; but set against and woven into the heightened ethos of the London Blitz, they take on an additional frisson. Set in a world of complex ambiguity, the novel's ending is appropriately oblique and prepares the reader for fresh developments.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Lizzie Hayes
Format:Paperback
DI Ted Stratton is a policeman working in central London in 1940. He is married to Jenny and their two children have been sent out of London. for safety. His home life is happy apart from the constant entreaties from his wife, which he is beginning to dread, to bring back the children from the country as she misses them. His extended family leave something to be desired, but we all have the same problems in this area.
He is called to investigate the death of silent screen star Mable Morgan who has been found dead impaled on railing outside her flat. The verdict is suicide, but Ted is not so sure, and against his superiors advice he starts asking questions.
On the other side of the tracks we meet Diana Calthrop, a tall elegant blonde who is recruited into MI5 working with senior official Sir Neviile Apse. Diana meets handsome Claude Ventriss and against her better judgement and her colleagues advice, is attracted by Claude. Diana is on sticky ground all round, she is married to Guy, who is serving abroad, but unlike Ted Stratton her marriage is not happy, and with her home life scrutinised by her mother-in-law, and a job that is by its very nature secretive, she really has no one she can trust.
As Ted delves further into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mable Morgan he finds links to the criminal underworld that in turn lead him to Diana's secret world, and thus their paths cross.
A brilliant story following two different walks of life set across the backdrop of war-torn London.
------
Lizzie Hayes
He is called to investigate the death of silent screen star Mable Morgan who has been found dead impaled on railing outside her flat. The verdict is suicide, but Ted is not so sure, and against his superiors advice he starts asking questions.
On the other side of the tracks we meet Diana Calthrop, a tall elegant blonde who is recruited into MI5 working with senior official Sir Neviile Apse. Diana meets handsome Claude Ventriss and against her better judgement and her colleagues advice, is attracted by Claude. Diana is on sticky ground all round, she is married to Guy, who is serving abroad, but unlike Ted Stratton her marriage is not happy, and with her home life scrutinised by her mother-in-law, and a job that is by its very nature secretive, she really has no one she can trust.
As Ted delves further into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mable Morgan he finds links to the criminal underworld that in turn lead him to Diana's secret world, and thus their paths cross.
A brilliant story following two different walks of life set across the backdrop of war-torn London.
------
Lizzie Hayes
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very complex plot and suitably confusing for a novel involving the secret service. Nice ambiguous ending as well.
The story starts with a simple, apparently, death and becomes more and more of a tangled web as the investigation by the one police officer who did not accept the coroner's suicide verdict continues. At the same time the british intelligence service is infiltrating the Hitler appeasing group of the establishment. Eventually the two strands of investigation become entwined.
The story starts with a simple, apparently, death and becomes more and more of a tangled web as the investigation by the one police officer who did not accept the coroner's suicide verdict continues. At the same time the british intelligence service is infiltrating the Hitler appeasing group of the establishment. Eventually the two strands of investigation become entwined.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable
I enjoyed this story the first in the series about inspector Stretton. I loved the war time setting and felt the author did well with making the reader feel as though they were... Read more
Published 2 months ago by catlover
3.0 out of 5 stars
Stratton War
I found this to be a easy on the eye read, very good, historical very good, learnt quite a bot as well. I will hopefully enjoy Laura`s next book.
Published 3 months ago by phillip beeching
4.0 out of 5 stars
who to trust? that is the question within this excellent book...
Stratton's War by Laura Wilson was for me an excellent read which at the end I was totally addicted to the very edgy Detective Inspector Stratton along with the very... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ms P. Wilson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable but has weaknesses
Stratton's War is part of the burgeoning number of crime novels using the Second World War as its backdrop. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Rob Kitchin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dull as dishwater
A promising start failed to develop into anything interesting. Threw the towel in after eight hours reading and decided life was too short. Who dunnit.... Who cares!
Published 15 months ago by J. Malone
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stratton - a character to follow
I love Laura Wilson's writing and this book is up there with her best. I've come to it late so have the luxury of being able to read more about Ted Stratton at once as I move on... Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2011 by L. Mumbray-Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stratton's War
Laura Wilson made a good job of this book. It is set in War Time London (WW2), it is based loosely on a real person. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2011 by MIDNIGHT
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intrigue and criminality in wartime London
This novel is immaculately written and it has an interesting and believable plot. The two main characters, DI Stratton and Diana Calthrop, a deb-type spy, are very well drawn as,... Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2011 by Lewis Duckworth
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite as good as it could be
The plot never quite grabbed me as it should have done. Period detail great but in the end there seemed to be too many characters with not quite enough to do. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2009 by Mrs. Helen Read
4.0 out of 5 stars
Evocative of the period
There is no doubt that Laura Wilson has an innate ability to bring to life in a highly evocative way the early war years in London (1940). Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2009 by D. P. Mankin
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