‘But look here, Temple—’
‘I see Rex has got his story all right,’ said Temple quickly, indicating a newspaper-stand displaying the London Evening Post.
‘Good old Rex!’ applauded Steve, with the genuine reporter’s love of a scoop.
‘You certainly handed him a first-class story, Sir Graham,’ said Temple.
The Chief Commissioner smiled, but he was obviously rather exasperated. ‘Now look here, Temple,’ he said. ‘There’s something about all this business I don’t quite understand.’
‘Oh, and what’s that?’ asked Temple, and it must be recorded that there was a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
‘Well, we know, for instance, who Rex Bryant is,’ said Forbes, ‘and we know that Iris, van Draper, Guest and Mrs Moffat were members of the organisation. We even know who Z.4 is; but there’s still one rather important person we seem to be overlooking!’
‘And who’s that?’
‘Why, the man who came over with you on the Golden Clipper,’ said Forbes.
Steve nodded. Like the Chief Commissioner, she, too, was obviously perplexed by the identity of the Austrian.
‘What on earth was he doing in Scotland?’ she asked.
‘I think he told us, Steve. He was on holiday.’
‘On holiday!’ exclaimed Sir Graham, and it must be recorded that he looked very bewildered. ‘But who the devil is the fellow?’
Paul Temple smiled. It was a very pleasant smile.
‘Believe it or not, Sir Graham,’ he said, ‘his name is Steiner. Doctor Ludwig Steiner. He is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Philadelphia.’
About the Author
Francis Henry Durbridge was born in Hull, Yorkshire, in 1912 and was educated at Bradford Grammar School. He was encouraged at an early age to write by his English teacher and went on to read English at Birmingham University. At the age of twenty one he sold a play to the BBC and continued to write following his graduation whilst working as a stockbroker’s clerk.
In 1938, he created the character Paul Temple, a crime novelist and detective. Many others followed and they were hugely successful until the last of the series was completed in 1968. In 1969, the Paul Temple series was adapted for television and four of the adventures prior to this, had been adapted for cinema, albeit with less success than radio and TV. Francis Durbridge also wrote for the stage and continued doing so up until 1991, when Sweet Revenge was completed. Additionally, he wrote over twenty other well received novels, most of which were on the general subject of crime. The last, Fatal Encounter, was published after his death in 1998.
Also in this series
Paul Temple and the Front Page Men
News of Paul Temple
Paul Temple Intervenes
Send for Paul Temple Again!
Paul Temple: East of Algiers
Paul Temple and the Kelby Affair
Paul Temple and the Harkdale Robbery
Paul Temple and the Geneva Mystery
Paul Temple and the Curzon Case
Paul Temple and the Margo Mystery
Paul Temple and the Madison Case
Light-Fingers: A Paul Temple Story (e-only)
A Present from Paul Temple (e-only)
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
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Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
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New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
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http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London, SE1 9GF, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com
Paul Temple 3-Book Collection Page 63