Maraskar Bound

Captain Paul Torrance reckons he's got just about the perfect life.

He's a well-regarded and highly skilled airline pilot, flying for one of the major airlines, an adventurous, responsible profession that sends him around the world to experience exotic locations, tantalising new foods... and beautiful women.

On the home front, he owns a little cottage with a pretty garden, his own draught beer kept in the cellar - all that's missing is the perfect woman to make the house a home.

And with vivacious stewardess Georgina around, it won't be long before Paul has everything he's ever wanted.

Into this perfection comes crashing his old R.A.F. buddy Harry Cleeve, who supplies and maintains all kinds of machinery, and is keen to ask Paul for a favour: come down to South Africa, where Cleeve lives with his family, on leave, and on his way home, fly a plane up to Maraskar to deliver to one of Harry's clients.

It's a simple job, made even more appealing by the temptation of a holiday in paradise, and Paul needs little convincing to accept the offer.

But from this seemingly innocuous trip erupts a succession of violent and surprising events that more than once threaten Paul's life.

As he scrambles to keep ahead of the powerful Sheik Khalil and Maraskar's formidable Inspector Tambela, Paul finds himself joining forces with the bewitching Dr Nicola Manton, an American whose petite stature belies a highly intelligent brain and a resourcefulness that Paul will come to depend on in his struggle for survival.

From the decadence of Dunbar to the lonely and bleak cold of Lion Mountain to dangerous offshore oil rigs, Paul will stop at nothing to discover the truth... even if it kills him in the process.

Richard Townshend Bickers volunteered for the R.A.F. at the outbreak of World War II and served, with a Permanent Commission, for eighteen. His experience has greatly shaped his writing career, during the course of which he has written more books about the R.A.F. and its predecessor, the R.F.C., than any other author, living or dead. Born in India and educated in England, he has travelled the world and lived in many different countries. He speaks and writes nine European and four oriental languages, and does his own research by interview and correspondence and in foreign archives. In addition to his novels, he has also written articles, short stories, and radio plays.