operation pax: volume 12

In this chilling classic British mystery thriller, a Scotland Yard inspector and his sister search for her missing fiancé in a city of vanishing people.

Petty con man Alfred Routh thinks a place like Milton Manor outside Oxford will have something nice to steal. When he learns what is inside, however, he is desperate to steal away with his life . . .

Meanwhile, Sir John Appleby from Scotland Yard is headed to Oxford to help his sister Jane. Her fiancé, a war hero and promising academic, has gone missing and many are concerned for his safety. But he’s not the only recent disappearance in the area.

As Appleby’s investigation begins, things only get more bizarre. The trail of clues leads him and Jane through the city of Oxford to the grounds of Milton Manor and the terrifying secrets within . . .

Originally published as The Paper Thunderbolt.

Praise for Michael Innes and Inspector Appleby

＂The author’s ingenuity and wit are seemingly endless.＂ --The Daily Telegraph

＂Altogether a brilliant piece of work.＂ --Birmingham Post

＂Innes is in a class by himself when it comes to detective fiction.＂ --The Times Literary Supplement

Michael Innes (1906-1994) was the pseudonym of John Innes MacKintosh ＂J.I.M.＂ Stewart. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotlandeducated at Oxford, and taught English at universities in the UK and Australia. Writing as J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of scholarly works, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as more than twenty works of fiction and a memoir. As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective Inspector John Appleby.