by John Creasey
And it was so.
As the days passed, a miracle came upon the world. Seeds long buried in that soil which had been poisoned for so long germinated, and grew so quickly that the tired and starving humans could scarcely believe it. Within two weeks, the first root crops were being harvested, excitement and hope giving the people strength to labour; within two more, the first corn and wheat and rice followed. All over the world food began to grow, and as the people ate they grew in stature and happiness, filled with a forgotten zest for life. In India and in China, in the once barren lands, in deserts or in valleys the food crops flourished. And of the people, none was sick.
Chapter Twenty
In the Beginning …
Palfrey and Beth stepped out of a car beneath an oak tree in a narrow lane which led from the gaunt Goose Inn a mile or so away. The hedges, like the oak, were bursting with new life, a fresh and beautiful green. They stood for a few moments by the side of the car, watching the rippling of the corn beneath the evening breeze.
The five-barred gate had been repaired and painted, and they reached it and leaned against it, Beth watching the rippling of the corn with the intensity which Palfrey had seen in her from the first. He could recall, as she could not, her expression when she had looked down at her dead husband, the second victim of the Lozi. He could remember how she had told him what she had seen, and her tone as she approached the full horror.
“Do you want to go into the field?” asked Palfrey.
“Yes, Sap, please.”
He opened the gate, and they walked along the verge where the grass grew and the corn stalks bent to the breeze. The combine-harvester had been taken away, and the city of the Lozi had been filled in. There was no more to mark it than a dip in the ground. It was a year since Palfrey had first walked, in near panic, across this field, and yet it was an age ago. At this moment he felt something of the horror he had known here, the sense of the unknown, brooding menace. Nothing would ever drive that memory, or the fear, away. As he watched the sunlight and shadow, he could imagine the millions who had walked out so hopefully and so bravely to their death.
“Sap,” Beth said.
“Yes, my dear.”
“Don’t torture yourself.”
He smiled at her. “How do you do it?” he demanded wonderingly. “You sense every mood, almost every thought. I’ve never known anyone like you.”
Slowly, Beth asked: “Not even Drusilla?”
“Not even Drusilla.”
Just for an instant pain showed in the blue eyes, as memories of the young wife who had died so tragically came crowding back to him – but it was quickly veiled.
“You would have liked her.” He paused for a moment, then put a friendly hand on Beth’s shoulder. “Do you ever think of David?”
“It’s strange,” said Beth dreamily. “He was a simple man but there was a very great quality in him. An honesty, a forthrightness. He was a farmer, and he saw farmers’ problems as you see mankind’s. You are both so unbelievably different, yet you are both so alike. He used to worry about a neighbour’s crop after a storm much more than he did about his own. I don’t think I ever told you that he would have harvested this field three days earlier had he not helped a neighbour whose wife was sick. And you came here because the world was sick. Do you think it has healed itself, Sap?”
Palfrey stared at her, and began to twist a few hairs round his forefinger.
“Not yet,” he said. “But we might heal ourselves eventually. There’s enough of everything to go round now, we won’t have to fight to get a fair share. We’ve inherited the technical know-how, the medical and surgical know-how, the culture, even the philosophy and the common sense, of two thousand and more years. The question is, have we inherited the greed and the folly as well? If we go about it in the right way, it will be like being born without ever having to be young. We start with all the advantages of experience and knowledge. Oh, we’ve a chance.”
He stopped speaking.
He patted the strand of hair down onto his forehead into a flaxen curve.
“I think today’s children will be born with a much greater chance than children in the past. I suppose we shouldn’t ask more.”
“No,” Beth said. “It is enough.”
They turned, their hands linked, and walked back through the new growth to a new life, which only mankind could ever spoil.
Series Information
Published or to be published by
House of Stratus
Dates given are those of first publication
Alternative titles in brackets
'The Baron' (47 titles) (writing as Anthony Morton)
'Department 'Z'' (28 titles)
'Dr. Palfrey Novels' (34 titles)
'Gideon of Scotland Yard' (22 titles)
'Inspector West' (43 titles)
'Sexton Blake' (5 titles)
'The Toff' (59 titles)
along with:
The Masters of Bow Street
This epic novel embraces the story of the Bow Street Runners and the Marine Police, forerunners of the modern police force, who were founded by novelist Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the earliest detective force operating from the courts to enforce the decisions of magistrates. John Creasey's account also gives a fascinating insight into family life of the time and the struggle between crime and justice, and ends with the establishment of the Metropolitan Police after the passing of Peel's Act in 1829.
'The Baron' Series
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Meet the Baron (The Man in the Blue Mask) (1937)
The Baron Returns (The Return of the Blue Mask) (1937)
The Baron Again (Salute Blue Mask) (1938)
The Baron at Bay (Blue Mask at Bay) (1938)
Alias the Baron (Alias Blue Mask) (1939)
The Baron at Large (Challenge Blue Mask!) (1939)
Versus the Baron (Blue Mask Strikes Again) (1940)
Call for the Baron (Blue Mask Victorious) (1940)
The Baron Comes Back (1943)
A Case for the Baron (1945)
Reward for the Baron (1945)
Career for the Baron (1946)
Blood Diamond (The Baron and the Beggar) (1947)
Blame the Baron (1948)
A Rope for the Baron (1948)
Books for the Baron (1949)
Cry for the Baron (1950)
Trap the Baron (1950)
Attack the Baron (1951)
Shadow the Baron (1951)
Warn the Baron (1952)
The Baron Goes East (1953)
The Baron in France (1953)
Danger for the Baron (1953)
The Baron Goes Fast (1954)
Nest-Egg for the Baron (Deaf, Dumb and Blonde) (1954)
Help from the Baron (1955)
Hide the Baron (1956)
The Double Frame (Frame the Baron) (1957)
Blood Red (Red Eye for the Baron) (1958)
If Anything Happens to Hester (Black for the Baron) (1959)
Salute for the Baron (1960)
The Baron Branches Out (A Branch for the Baron) (1961)
The Baron and the Stolen Legacy (Bad for the Baron) (1962)
A Sword for the Baron (The Baron and the Mogul Swords) (1963)
The Baron on Board (The Mask of Sumi) (1964)
The Baron and the Chinese Puzzle (1964)
Sport for the Baron (1966)
Affair for the Baron (1967)
The Baron and the Missing Old Masters (1968)
The Baron and the Unfinished Portrait (1969)
Last Laugh for the Baron (1970)
The Baron Goes A-Buying (1971)
The Baron and the Arrogant Artist (1972)
Burgle the Baron (1973)
The Baron - King Maker (1975)
Love for the Baron (1979)
'Department
Z' Novels
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
The Death Miser (1932)
Redhead (1934)
First Came a Murder (1934)
Death Round the Corner (1935)
The Mark of the Crescent (1935)
Thunder in Europe (1936)
The Terror Trap (1936)
Carriers of Death (1937)
Days of Danger (1937)
Death Stands By (1938)
Menace! (1938)
Murder Must Wait (1939)
Panic! (1939)
Death by Night (1940)
The Island of Peril (1940)
Sabotage (1941)
Go Away Death (1941)
The Day of Disaster (1942)
Prepare for Action (1942)
No Darker Crime (1943)
Dark Peril (1944)
The Peril Ahead (1946)
The League of Dark Men (1947)
The Department of Death (1949)
The Enemy Within (1950)
Dead or Alive (1951)
A Kind of Prisoner (1954)
The Black Spiders (1957)
Doctor Palfrey Novels
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Traitor's Doom (1942)
The Legion of the Lost (1943)
The Valley of Fear (The Perilous Country) (1943)
Dangerous Quest (1944)
Death in the Rising Sun (1945)
The Hounds of Vengeance (1945)
Shadow of Doom (1946)
The House of the Bears (1946)
Dark Harvest (1947)
The Wings of Peace (1948)
The Sons of Satan (1948)
The Dawn of Darkness (1949)
The League of Light (1949)
The Man Who Shook the World (1950)
The Prophet of Fire (1951)
The Children of Hate (The Killers of Innocence; The Children of Despair) (1952)
The Touch of Death (1954)
The Mists of Fear (1955)
The Flood (1956)
The Plague of Silence (1958)
Dry Spell (The Drought) (1959)
The Terror (1962)
The Depths (1963)
The Sleep (1964)
The Inferno (1965)
The Famine (1967)
The Blight (1968)
The Oasis (1970)
The Smog (1970)
The Unbegotten (1971)
The Insulators (1972)
The Voiceless Ones (1973)
The Thunder-Maker (1976)
The Whirlwind (1979)
Gideon Series
(Writing as JJ Marric)
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Gideon's Day (Gideon of Scotland Yard) (1955)
Seven Days to Death (Gideon's Week) (1956)
Gideon's Night (1957)
A Backwards Jump (Gideon's Month) (1958)
Thugs and Economies (Gideon's Staff) (1959)
Gideon Combats Influence (Gideon's Risk) (1960)
Gideon's Fire (1961)
A Conference for Assassins (Gideon's March) (1962)
Travelling Crimes (Gideon's Ride) (1963)
An Uncivilised Election (Gideon's Vote) (1964)
Criminal Imports (Gideon's Lot) (1965)
To Nail a Serial Killer (Gideon's Badge) (1966)
From Murder to a Cathedral (Gideon's Wrath) (1967)
Gideon's River (1968)
Darkness and Confusion (Gideon's Power) (1969)
Sport, Heat & Scotland Yard (Gideon's Sport) (1970)
Gideon's Art (1971)
No Relaxation at Scotland Yard (Gideon's Men) (1972)
Impartiality Against the Mob (Gideon's Press) (1973)
Not Hidden by the Fog (Gideon's Fog) (1975)
Good and Justice (Gideon's Drive) (1976)
Vigilantes & Biscuits (Gideon's Force) (1978)
Inspector West Series
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Inspector West Takes Charge (1942)
Go Away to Murder (Inspector West Leaves Town) (1943)
An Apostle of Gloom (Inspector West At Home) (1944)
Inspector West Regrets (1945)
Holiday for Inspector West (1946)
Battle for Inspector West (1948)
The Case Against Paul Raeburn (Triumph for Inspector West) (1948)
Inspector West Kicks Off (Sport for Inspector West) (1949)
Inspector West Alone (1950)
Inspector West Cries Wolf (The Creepers) (1950)
The Figure in the Dusk (A Case for Inspector West) (1951)
The Dissemblers (Puzzle for Inspector West) (1951)
The Case of the Acid Throwers (The Blind Spot; Inspector West at Bay) (1952)
Give a Man a Gun (A Gun for Inspector West) (1953)
Send Inspector West (1953)
So Young, So Cold, So Fair (A Beauty for Inspector West; The Beauty Queen Killer) (1954)
Murder Makes Haste (Inspector West Makes Haste; The Gelignite Gang; Night of the Watchman) (1955)
Murder: One, Two, Three (Two for Inspector West) (1955)
Death of a Postman (Parcels for Inspector West) (1956)
Death of an Assassin (A Prince for Inspector West) (1956)
Hit and Run (Accident for Inspector West) (1957)
The Trouble at Saxby's (Find Inspector West; Doorway to Death) (1957)
Murder, London - New York (1958)
Strike for Death (The Killing Strike) (1958)
Death of a Racehorse (1959)
The Case of the Innocent Victims (1959)
Murder on the Line (1960)
Death in Cold Print (1961)
The Scene of the Crime (1961)
Policeman's Dread (1962)
Hang the Little Man (1963)
Look Three Ways at Murder (1964)
Murder, London - Australia (1965)
Murder, London - South Africa (1966)
The Executioners (1967)
So Young to Burn (1968)
Murder, London - Miami (1969)
A Part for a Policeman (1970)
Alibi for Inspector West (1971)
A Splinter of Glass (1972)
The Theft of Magna Carta (1973)
The Extortioners (1974)
A Sharp Rise in Crime (1978)
'The Toff' Series
These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Introducing the Toff (It's the Toff!) (1938)
The Toff Goes On (1939)
The Toff Steps Out (1939)
Here Comes the Toff (1940)
The Toff Breaks In (1940)
Salute the Toff (1941)
The Toff Proceeds (1941)
The Toff Goes to Market (1942)
The Toff Is Back (1942)
The Toff on the Trail (short stories) (1942)
The Toff among the Millions (1943)
Accuse the Toff (1943)
The Toff and the Deadly Priest (The Toff and the Curate) (1944)
The Toff and the Great Illusion (1944)
Feathers for the Toff (1945)
The Toff and the Lady (1946)
Poison for the Toff (The Toff on Ice) (1946)
Hammer the Toff (1947)
The Toff in Town (1948)
The Toff Takes Shares (1948)
The Toff and Old Harry (1949)
The Toff on Board (1949)
Fool the Toff (1950)
Kill the Toff (1950)
A Knife for the Toff (1951)
A Mask for the Toff (The Toff Goes Gay) (1951)
Hunt the Toff (1952)
Call the Toff (1953)
The Toff Down Under (Break the Toff) (1953)
Murder Out of the Past (short stories) (1953)
The Toff at Camp (The Toff at Butlins) (1954)
The Toff at the Fair (1954)
A Six fo
r the Toff (A Score for the Toff) (1955)
The Toff and the Deep Blue Sea (1955)
Kiss the Toff (Make-Up for the Toff) (1956)
The Toff in New York (1956)
Model for the Toff (1957)
The Toff on Fire (1957)
The Toff and the Stolen Tresses (1958)
Terror for the Toff (The Toff on the Farm) (1958)
Double for the Toff (1959)
The Toff and the Runaway Bride (1959)
A Rocket for the Toff (1960)
The Toff and the Kidnapped (The Kidnapped Child) (1960)
Follow the Toff (1961)
The Toff and the Toughs (The Toff and the Teds) (1961)
A Doll for the Toff (1963)
Leave It to the Toff (1963)
The Toff and the Spider (1965)
The Toff in Wax (1966)
A Bundle for the Toff (1967)
Stars for the Toff (1968)
The Toff and the Golden Boy (1969)
The Toff and the Fallen Angels (1970)
Vote for the Toff (1971)
The Toff and the Trip-Trip-Triplets (1972)
The Toff and the Terrified Taxman (1973)
The Toff and the Sleepy Cowboy (1975)
The Toff and the Crooked Copper (1977)
Select Synopses
Gideon's Day
Gideon's day is a busy one. He balances family commitments with solving a series of seemingly unrelated crimes from which a plot nonetheless evolves and a mystery is solved. One of the most senior officers within Scotland Yard, George Gideon's crime solving abilities are in the finest traditions of London's world famous police headquarters. His analytical brain and sense of fairness is respected by colleagues and villains alike.
Gideon's Night
