Albert Campion, international spy, on His Majesty’s secret service? Stranger things have happened, but if they have, Campion can’t remember them: He’s in hospital, the victim of an apparent accident, and with no memory of anything except the fact that the fate of the British Empire is somehow cradled in his bandaged hands. He can’t remember his faithful manservant, he can’t remember his fiance, and most particularly, he can’t remember killing a policeman, a crime for which whispering voices outside his hospital room claim he will shortly hang. Escaping in a stolen car, Campion finds odd shreds of memory returning. His mission, he’s certain, has something to do with the number 15 and also with the town of Bridge, which – he dimly recalls – is run by an ancient, hereditary, and extremely secretive sect.

Allingham, Margery