'Martin handles this theme with the skill of such illustrious predecessors as Graham Greene - and there is no higher praise than that.' Daily Express Baghdad, 1917. Captain Jim Stringer, invalided from the Western Front, has been dispatched to investigate what looks like a nasty case of treason. He arrives to find a city on the point of insurrection, his cover apparently blown - and his only contact lying dead with flies in his eyes. As Baghdad swelters in a particularly torrid summer, the heat alone threatens the lives of the British soldiers who occupy the city. The recently ejected Turks are still a danger - and many of the local Arabs are none too friendly either. For Jim, who is not particularly good in warm weather, the situation grows pricklier by the day. Aside from his investigation, he is working on the railways around the city. His boss is the charming, enigmatic Lieutenant-Colonel Shepherd, who presides over the gracious dining society called The Baghdad Railway Club - and who may or may not be a Turkish agent. Jim's search for the truth brings him up against murderous violence in a heat-dazed, labyrinthine city where an enemy awaits around every corner. Praise for the Jim Stringer series: 'Breathe in the heady mixture of smoke, oil and steam - and the odd spot of real ale - and feel the crunch of cinders beneath your feet... you're in historic railway territory again.' Manchester Evening News 'Finely honed crime novels with plotting as precise as a Swiss watch.' Daily Express 'This series is, er, really building up a head of steam.' Observer Readers love Jim Stringer, railway detective: 'It's hard to envisage anyone not warming to Jim Stringer.' Independent 'An unlikely sleuth - ingenuous, naive and a little anxious - but an endearing narrator, a solid bloke who'd be good company over a pint of stout down the pub.' Telegraph 'The best sleuth that 200 years of the railways have ever produced.' Independent on Sunday