1919. The eyes of the world are on Paris, where statesmen, diplomats and politicians have gathered to discuss the fate of half the world's nations in the aftermath of the cataclysm that was the Great War. A horde of journalists, spies and opportunists have also gathered in the city and the last thing the British diplomatic community needs at such a time is the mysterious death of a senior member of their delegation. So, when Sir Henry Maxted falls from the roof of his mistress's apartment building in unexplained circumstances, their first instinct is to suppress all suspicious aspects of the event.

 

But Sir Henry's son, ex Royal Flying Corps ace James 'Max' Maxted, has other ideas. He resolves to find out how and why his father died - even if this means disturbing the impression of harmonious calm which the negotiating teams have worked so hard to maintain. In a city where countries are jostling for position at the crossroads of history and the stakes could hardly be higher, it is difficult to tell who is a friend and who a foe.And Max will soon discover just how much he needs friends, as his search for the truth sucks him into the dark heart of a seemingly impenetrable mystery.

Every new novel is a new departure for a writer, but The Ways of the World is also a change of scope for me. It initiates a trilogy of novels about the quest of James ‘Max’ Maxted, former First World War flying ace, to discover the strange and beguiling truth that lies behind the death of his father, Sir Henry Maxted, in Paris in the spring of 1919.

Paris and the famous post-war peace conference the city hosted are characters themselves in the peopling of this story. As the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War approaches, I found myself drawn to the intrigues, the conflicts and the unexplained twists of fate that made the conference a uniquely cosmopolitan drama. It was, in a very real sense, the last, the longest and arguably the most important battle of the war. There were many casualties, but it took the rest of the twentieth century to reveal them.

Into this historical melting-pot I have plunged a cast of very human characters, to wage a struggle none of them fully understands. Max will discover in the course of The Ways of the World that his father did not die in an accident, as the Paris police maintain, but was murdered. He will find out why and he will track down the murderer, despite the best efforts of powerful enemies to stop him. But for him – and the people he comes into contact with – that is only the beginning. They have embarked without realizing it upon a journey that will lead to a destination and a secret they could never have imagined.

Join them on their journey. Taste the mystery. And guess where it may be taking you. The ways of the world are many. But the truth stands alone.