The Internet Book Database of Fiction

#	Date	Publisher	Binding	Cover
1	1953-00-00	Cassell

Blurb:: High up in the Appenines, as the war front in Italy recedes to the North, a group of British and American deserters operate their highly organized hide-out in a shattered castle. In a land where food and clothing is controlled by the Army, their knowledge of procedure - and of the possibilities of bribery and corruption - provide an unfailing supply of necessities filched from the stores of the British and American bases. Secure in their absolute isolation, with all their needs met, even to the women they hijacked from the brothels of Florence, they wait in comfort for the war to end. Their days of freedom are, however, numbered, for in a quiet village on the Adriatic coast a combined British and American Intelligence Unit is tracking them to their lair. Here are all the thrills of the hunt, the suspense of the inevitable end.

But here also is a more subtle fascination. It is the author???s mischievous delight to drag away the covering cloak under which men hide their true selves and to uncover mercilessly the morals and motives of each of these hunters and hunted, until between those on the right side and those on the wrong there lies little but the strict letter of the Law.