The Whisper in the Gloom

You can’t keep Strangeways out of mischief. … On a fine August day in Kensington Garden, a young boy is anxious to test out his speed boat. Unbeknownst to him, a police informant has been running for his life and is cornered in the park. As the boy prepares to launch his boat, the man crawls up to him and hands the boy a piece of crumpled paper before bleeding to death at the edge of the pond. Realising the imminent danger, the boy tries to escape the two men now trailing him. With the help of Nigel Strangeways, he flees the park. It is only later that the boy realizes the true peril he is in – upon opening the note, he discovers the message states only his own name and age: Bert Hale 12. Scotland Yard is on high alert. A Soviet delegation is on its way to London and officers are working round the clock to protect against any demonstrations or assassinations. But their staff is running thin as an untimely conspiracy of crimes washes over London. As Bert and his friends try to piece this mystery together on their own, Strangeways and all of Scotland Yard are desperate to find them as the boys hold the only clue to solving this international conspiracy.