First published 2026
October 1942. Thousands of American GIs are stationed across eastern England building airfields to bomb Nazi Germany. Cambridge’s dance halls and pubs are a hot spot for ‘Yanks’ on leave. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke is called to an aerodrome east of the city when the remains of an airman, identified by his dog tag, are uncovered by workers extending a runway. This is no recent burial, and Brooke is under pressure to let the base carry on preparing for an attack on Berlin. But then another murder, of a local woman, means that a black US serviceman faces the hangman’s noose. But Brooke sees through the clouds of tension and prejudice and believes he sees an innocent man. But can he prove it in time?
