James S Stevenson
What do you do when you are ordered to kill the occupants of a building when one of those occupants is part of your family and a childhood friend?Karl Deichman knows that if he carries out orders to lead a precision bomb attack on the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in September 1942, he will probably kill his English cousin with whom he has sworn a pact of friendship until death.But a pilot of the German Luftwaffe has no choice, the attack must proceed.After the war, and consumed with guilt, Karl returns to England: Did I kill Andrew? His quest leads him to Anna, a former secret agent with a score to settle; Robert, a war-time spy who has made his home in Portugal; Ivo, an ex-RAF Spitfire pilot recently escaped from Jail in Czechoslovakia.Karl uncovers the secret of the Dartmouth Conspiracy but tension mounts as he is drawn into the jaws of a lethal trap.The final jig-saw piece finds its slot when Karl makes his final visit to Dartmouth in the summer of 2005 for the College’s centenary celebrations.Dartmouth Conspiracy is a thriller, a blend of fact and fiction whose players are drawn together from countries recently in conflict – and who still search for peace long after the war is over.Since the first edition of Dartmouth Conspiracy was published in 1999, several readers who witnessed the true event on which this story is based, have revealed further intriguing details, which are explained in the final chapter: How Much of this Story is True?
