These drafts were abandoned and on 26 March 1972, Bagley delivered a completed manuscript to his publishers with the working title Because Salton Died. He told his editor in an accompanying letter that in an attempt to break his writer’s block he changed writing style and started to write a ‘classic whodunnit’, which in the event he didn’t achieve because his familiar style kept breaking in. He noted:
My method of writing is singularly ill-adapted for the writing of a whodunnit. I begin with a situation and let it develop, and the plot follows where the development leads; whereas a whodunnit should be meticulously worked out in a synopsis before a key on the typewriter is touched. My method, however, leads to a certain spontaneity. I tossed in a variety of odd circumstances, characters and situations, and let them work themselves out.
What resulted was a classic Bagley tour de force involving murder and corruption on a Caribbean island and a protagonist in the form of a former army intelligence officer, now working in London as an insurance investigator.
Collins promptly scheduled the book and began selling rights: in less than two weeks the first translation deal (Swedish) was completed. However on 11 April 1972 a Collins internal memo stated that Bagley had withdrawn the novel and there would be no novel for 1972, indicating the author would write to the Swedish publishers to explain the reasons for the delay.
It’s probable that with Warner Bros due to commence filming of The Freedom Trap, which had now been renamed The Mackintosh Man, by September, Bagley’s US publisher Doubleday had managed to persuade the author to withdraw Because Salton Died in favour of writing a novel similar to the impending film, in order that the two might be marketed together. So the typescript was returned to Bagley and was put aside in favour of other projects.
The following month Bagley and his wife embarked on a tour of Scandinavia, first visiting Strängnäs in Sweden to stay with a close personal friend, Iwan Hedman aka Iwan Morelius. Morelius (1931–2012), a captain in the Swedish army, founded the Swedish crime fiction publication DAST Magazine in 1967 and had started to correspond with Bagley in 1969. On this particular visit Bagley conducted a book signing at the local bookshop and also visited a publishing house in Stockholm before travelling on to Drammen in Norway where he met Mona Røkke who, then police superintendent for Drammen, later went into local politics and became a Member of the Norwegian Parliament. Drammen was to feature in Bagley’s next novel and with the bout of writer’s block well and truly behind him he commenced work on his new novel, The Tightrope Men (London: Collins, 1973), sending the final draft of the novel to his publishers on 29 September 1972. His close friend Iwan Morelius was to later feature as a character in his 1977 novel The Enemy.
Following her husband’s death in 1983, Joan Bagley completed and oversaw the posthumous publication of two of his novels – Night of Error and Juggernaut. In the latter months of 1997 she took up the offer made to her husband by Howard Gotlieb 33 years earlier and donated his papers to Boston University, where they now rest in an archive of unparalleled diversity and richness. Joan had been an integral part of Desmond Bagley’s work from the very first novel until the last, faithfully preserving his literary legacy until her own death on 30 June 1999.
Because Salton Died remained set aside and was thought lost until discovered in Bagley’s personal papers in May 2017. The author had indicated on his typescript that if the publishers could think of a better title they should go ahead.
Well, they did … Domino Island.
Philip Eastwood
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Bagley is one of the best.’
The Times
HIGH CITADEL
When Tim O’Hara’s plane is hijacked and forced to crash land in the middle of the Andes, his troubles are only beginning. A heavily armed group of communist soldiers intent on killing one of his passengers – an influential political figure – have orders to leave no survivors. Isolated in the biting cold of the Andes, O’Hara’s party must fight for their lives with only the most primitive weapons …
LANDSLIDE
Bob Boyd is a geologist, as resilient as the British Columbia timber country where he works for the powerful Matterson Corporation. But his real name and his past are mysteries – wiped out by the accident that nearly killed him. Then Boyd reads a name that opens a door in his memory: Trinavant – and discovers that Bull Matterson and his son will do almost anything to keep the Trinavant family forgotten forever …
‘Very much of the moment. The characters are sympathetic and believable’
Sunday Times
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Stories charged with suspense.’
Financial Times
WYATT’S HURRICANE
Ferocious Hurricane Mabel is predicted to pass harmlessly amongst the islands of the Caribbean. But David Wyatt has developed a sixth sense about hurricanes. He is convinced that Mabel will change course to strike the island of San Fernandez and its capital, St Pierre. But nobody believes him, and the hurricane is only one of the problems that threaten San Fernandez …
BAHAMA CRISIS
Tom Mangan was a sharply successful entrepreneur who lured the super-rich to his luxury hotels in the sun-soaked Bahamas. Then violent tragedy struck: his own family disappeared, and a series of misfortunes, accidents and mysterious epidemics began to drive the tourists away and wreck Mangan’s livelihood. Fatally, he becomes determined to confront his enemy – and the hunt is on …
‘Tautly written adventure, packed with exhaustive detail. You will be out of breath when you finish.’
Books And Bookmen
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘The best adventure stories I have read for years.’
Daily Mirror
THE GOLDEN KEEL
When the Allies invaded southern Italy in 1943, Mussolini’s personal treasure was moved north to safety under heavily armed guard. It was never seen again. Now, an expedition plans to unearth the treasure and smuggle it out of Italy. But their reckless mission is being followed – by enemies who are as powerful and ruthless as they are deadly …
THE VIVERO LETTER
Jeremy Wheale’s well-ordered life is blasted apart when his brother is murdered. The killer was after a family heirloom – an antique gold tray – which sets Wheale on a trail from Devon to the tropical rainforest of Yucatan. There he joins the hunt for a lost Mayan city. But in the dense cover of the jungle a band of vicious convict mercenaries are waiting to strike …
‘Bagley has no equal at this sort of thing.’
Sunday Mirror
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Compulsively readable.’
Guardian
FLYAWAY
Why is Max Stafford, security consultant, beaten up in his own office? What is the secret of the famous 1930s aircraft, the Lockheed Lodestar? And why has accountant Paul Bilson disappeared in North Africa? The journey to the Sahara desert becomes a race to save Paul Bilson, a race to find the buried aircraft, and – above all – a race to return alive …
WINDFALL
When a legacy of £40 million is left to a small college in Kenya, investigations begin about the true identities of the heirs – the South African, Dirk Hendriks, and his namesake, Henry Hendrix from California. Suspicion that Hendrix is an impostor leads Max Stafford to the Rift Valley, where a violent reaction to his arrival points to a sinister and far-reaching conspiracy far beyond mere greed …
‘From word one, you’re off. Bagley’s one of the best.’
The Times
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Bagley in top form.’
Evening Standard
THE SPOILERS
When film tycoon Robert Hellier loses his daughter to heroin, he declares war on the drug pedlars, the faceless overlords whose greed supplies the world with its deadly pleasures. London drug specialist Nicholas Warren is called upon to organise an expedition to the Middle East to track down and destroy them – but with a hundred million dollars’ worth of heroin
at stake,Warren knows he will have to use methods as deadly as his prey …
JUGGERNAUT
It is no ordinary juggernaut. Longer than a football pitch, weighing 550 tons, and moving at just five miles per hour, its job – and that of troubleshooter Neil Mannix – is to move a giant transformer across an oil-rich African state. But when Nyala erupts in civil war, Mannix’s juggernaut is at the centre of the conflict – a target of ambush and threat, with no way to run and nowhere to hide …
‘Bagley is a master story-teller.’
Daily Mirror
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Sizzling adventure.’
Evening Standard
THE TIGHTROPE MEN
When Giles Denison of Hampstead wakes up in an Oslo hotel room and finds the face looking back at him in the mirror is not his own, things could surely get no more bizarre. But it is only the beginning of a hair-raising adventure in which Denison finds himself trapped with no way to escape. One false move and the whole delicately balanced power structure between East and West will come toppling down …
THE ENEMY
Wealthy, respectable George Ashton flees for his life after an acid attack on his daughter. Who is his enemy? Only Malcolm Jaggard, his future son-in-law, can guess, after seeing Ashton’s top secret government file. In a desperate manhunt, Jaggard pits himself against the KGB and stalks Ashton to the silent, wintry forests of Sweden. But his search for the enemy has barely begun …
‘Bagley has become a master of the genre – a thriller writer of intelligence and originality.’
Sunday Times
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Tense, heroic, chastening … a thumping good story.’
Sunday Express
THE SNOW TIGER
Fifty-four people died in the avalanche that ripped apart a small New Zealand mining town. But the enquiry which follows unleashes more destructive power than the snowfall. As the survivors tell their stories, they reveal a community so divided that all warnings of danger went unheeded. At the centre of the storm is Ian Ballard, whose life depends upon being able to clear his name …
NIGHT OF ERROR
When Mark Trevelyan dies on a journey to a remote Pacific atoll, the verdict that it was natural causes doesn’t convince his brother, Mike. The series of violent attacks that follows only adds to his suspicions. Just two clues – a notebook in code and a lump of rock – are enough to trigger off a hazardous expedition, and a violent confrontation far from civilization …
‘The detail is immaculately researched – the action has the skill to grab your heart or your bowels.’
Daily Mirror
DESMOND BAGLEY
‘Unbeatable for sheer gripping excitement.’
Daily Telegraph
RUNNING BLIND
The assignment begins with a simple errand – a parcel to deliver. But to Alan Stewart, standing on a deserted road in Iceland with a murdered man at his feet, it looks anything but simple. The desolate terrain is obstacle enough. But when Stewart realises he has been double-crossed and that the opposition is gaining ground, his simple mission seems impossible …
THE FREEDOM TRAP
The Scarperers, a brilliantly organised gang which gets long-term inmates out of prison, spring a notorious Russian double agent. The trail leads Owen Stannard to Malta, and to the suave killer masterminding the gang. Face to face at last with his opponents, Stannard must try to outwit both men – who have nothing to lose and everything to gain by his death …
‘Literate, exciting, knowledgeable adventure stories – Desmond Bagley is incomparable.’
Sunday Mirror
DESMOND BAGLEY
Desmond Bagley was born in 1923 in Kendal, Westmorland, and brought up in Blackpool. He began his working life, aged 14, in the printing industry and then did a variety of jobs until going into an aircraft factory at the start of the Second World War.
When the war ended, he decided to travel to southern Africa, going overland through Europe and the Sahara. He worked en route, reaching South Africa in 1951.
Bagley became a freelance journalist in Johannesburg and wrote his first published novel, The Golden Keel, in 1962. In 1964 he returned to England and lived in Totnes, Devon, for twelve years. He and his wife Joan then moved to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Here he found the ideal place for combining his writing and his other interests, which included computers, mathematics, military history, and entertaining friends from all over the world.
Desmond Bagley died in April 1983, having become one of the world’s top-selling authors, with his 16 books – two of them published after his death – translated into more than 30 languages. In 2018 a blue plaque commemorating Desmond and Joan Bagley was unveiled at their former home in Guernsey, coinciding with the discovery of a complete unpublished novel written in 1972, Domino Island, published in 2019.
MICHAEL DAVIES
Michael Davies began his career as a newspaper journalist, going on to edit numerous publications. Since moving into fiction, his writing has appeared on stage, screen, radio, the printed page and online. His debut play, Rasputin’s Mother, won a national playwriting competition and subsequent work includes scripts, novels, radio plays and short stories. Most recently, he wrote the book and lyrics for Tess – The Musical, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles. He is a lifelong Desmond Bagley fan.
PHILIP EASTWOOD
Philip Eastwood is a literary researcher who runs the website thebagleybrief.com, promoting the legacy of Desmond Bagley. Since 2007 Philip has worked in remote areas of Iceland on behalf of the Icelandic environment agency, and has also mentored and led volunteer conservation teams. His interest in Iceland was originally inspired by Desmond Bagley’s novel Running Blind, and he has become a leading authority on the author’s life and work.
By the same author
The Golden Keel
High Citadel
Wyatt’s Hurricane
Landslide
The Vivero Letter
The Spoilers
Running Blind
The Freedom Trap
The Tightrope Men
The Snow Tiger
The Enemy
Flyaway
Bahama Crisis
Windfall
Night of Error
Juggernaut
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