Close to the Edge: Remembrance

In the spring of 1917, the Allied countries fighting Germany were desperate for the United States of America to declare war on their enemy and send her troops to Europe. But the three main participant countries were all in a desperate state. In Russia, the army had collapsed and the country was descending into chaos. While in France, after the battle of Verdun the French army had mutinied and only the most severe punishment, instituted by the High Command restored order. In Britain, the Prime Minister feared Britain could descend into chaos and revolution, as socialist agitators and peace campaigners were organizing rent strikes and demonstrating for peace talks to be started. While in general, the British population was half starved and working long hours in factories to support the war effort. With morale amongst the troops fighting in the trenches at a critical low, due to the appalling losses in men for such little if any gain in territory. Thus America seeing her potential allies in disarray would remain neutral and her troops stay on her far distant shore. So when a train crash saw the deaths of over three hundred troops on their way to the fighting in France, plus a hundred women and children, he decided every effort must be made to unearth the cause of the disaster and quickly prevent the socialist agitators and peace campaigners using it to instigate unrest in the country. To this end he ordered the best available detective, in or out of military uniform, to be put on the case with the instruction that he was to produce a report in just ten days, in the hope that the rapid solving of the crime would calm the rising disquiet about the war and above all the handling of it by the politicians, amongst the populous before it could be used to stir the people into a revolution against the Government. So, Lieutenant Joseph Carstein, a former Inspector in the Metropolitan Police, was called back from his military unit in France and given the task of finding the facts behind what happened on that fateful day near the City of Durham. But Carstein quickly felt himself being used for the politicians' own ends. And as he tracked the main suspect across the North of England, battling anti-semitism and inept police colleagues, he began to doubt if what he was uncovering was the answer they wanted,

Author: S. C. Grant

Publisher: Independently Published

Publication Date: Aug 16, 2020

Number of Pages: 206 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: NA

ISBN-13: 9798675276318