(Bundel) The Return of the Prodigal Son (Inspector Philip Graves Casebook), The Schutzstaffel Array & The Return of the Excalibur

The Return of the Prodigal Son - Deep hidden memories of a twin brother he never knew he had emerge when New Scotland Yard detective Philip Graves suffers flashbacks after a fire during a stakeout. It's 1985 and the discovery of a body encased inside a concrete bridge column just outside his home village initiates an investigation whose origin is in 1943 when the twins brothers were adopted following the sudden deaths of their biological parents during the war.
The orphanage they are placed in quickly establishes the wrong kind of reputation and shortly before a raid by the police, it mysteriously burns down, allegedly killing several of the abusive staff and one child, Grave's twin brother. Shutting out the memory permanently until 42 years later, young Philip Graves is adopted and grows up unaware, save for regular nightmares. Delving into his own past, the village where he lived and that of his adopted parents, he unearths further unsolved, grisly murders that were carried out in the 1960s. All are connected to Grave's past, the fire at the orphanage and a vicious attack on his adopted father. The Return of the Prodigal Son is full of twists and turns for the discerning murder mystery fan. Be warned though, there is an element of erotica as part of the plot.
THE SCHUTZSTAFFEL ARRAY - In 1945, the war almost lost, Hitler entrusts the hoard of stolen treasures taken from allied countries as the Nazis retreat to his most trusted generals to use to fund a future uprising. The treasure is hidden in a secret location just outside Dresden in old East Germany.
The exact location is recorded on a map hidden inside the centre of a golden shield behind a secret compartment. The compartment door will only open when several golden daggers are inserted into it, around its perimeter and at the same time. To access the shield without the correct daggers would risk the destruction of the map with the release of a vile of acid. As the treasure is transferred to its final hiding place during the bombing of Dresden, a misfit bunch of British mercenaries make a final foray behind enemy lines and steal a dagger each while the shield itself is accidentally left behind. The curator of the museum that has kept the treasure safe until then is killed by the mercenaries leaving his grandson orphaned. 15 years later, 1960, and the first of the mercenaries dies in England under mysterious circumstances and over the next 30 years the remainder are killed one after the other as each dagger is retrieved by their murderer.
It’s only as an attempt is made on the final victim that Inspector Philip Graves of New Scotland Yard becomes involved and so begins an investigation stretching back over 40 years that implicates MI6, the Israeli Mossad and the discovery of the final resting place of precious gems, works of art and many more priceless objects taken by the Nazis.
The Return of the Excalibur- If you have read “The Return of the Prodigal Son” you may have wondered what really happened to Squadron Leader John Laine and his crew of the Excalibur and their strange cargo during their fateful mission to occupied Austria in 1943? Days after the Excalibur’s disappearance a struggling reporter attends a séance looking to denounce a well known medium only to witness something altogether more different.
It’s 1982 and the wreckage of the Excalibur is breaking up at the bottom of Lake Laffey and its cargo mixing with fresh water resulting in pocket of gas plumes over the nearby countryside. Something that had been planned for the Nazis nearly 40 years earlier The first suggestion that anything strange is occurring is when a series of crimes are committed each worse than the last eventually involving the murder of a little Molly Hardy. The girl’s father, Graham Hardy, grief stricken turns the spiritualist movement and it is during a seance designed to contact the spirit of his dead daughter that he receives a message about the dangerous cargo of the Excalibur.