Orders from Berlin

Publishers Weekly

Jack Higgins fans will enjoy Tolkien’s exciting third suspense novel featuring Det. Insp. William Trave (after 2011’s The King of Diamonds), a prequel set in the fall of 1940. As Adolf Hitler and Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Gestapo, plot to use a mole in British intelligence to further the Reich’s ambitions, Trave lands a murder case. Albert Morrison, the ousted head of MI6, has been killed, flung down a flight of stairs by someone Morrison’s grown daughter, Ava, who witnessed the crime, could not identify. Trave’s oafish superior, Det. Chief Insp. John Quaid, quickly settles on Ava’s husband, Bertie, as the killer, since Bertie had a pecuniary motive for his father-in-law’s death. Trave isn’t so sure, a feeling that’s only heightened as he tries to learn more about Morrison’s work. Heartfelt evocations of the horrors of war, in particular the effects of the bombing raids on Londoners, show Tolkien has upped his game. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary. (Dec.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Orders from Berlin

“Jack Higgins fans will enjoy Tolkien’s exciting third suspense novel featuring Det. Insp. William Trave…  Heartfelt evocations of the horrors of war, in particular the effects of the bombing raids on Londoners, show Tolkien has upped his game.” –Publishers Weekly

 

“In the early years of World War II, a plot as ingenious as it is outrageous unfolds in London and Berlin… Satisfying twists and authentic WWII elements should keep readers engaged.” --Kirkus

 

“Tolkien effectively layers into the tale a wealth of fascinating historical detail, including meaty appearances by Churchill, Hitler, and Gestapo head Reinhard Heydrich…the richness of the characters and the vivid sense of daily life in the midst of history carry the day in high style.”

—Booklist

 

“Orders From Berlin is a novel that is as historically rich and evocative as it is suspenseful and riveting…[Mr. Tolkien] transports the reader flawlessly across the line from history to fiction…compelling.”

—Santa Barbara News Press

 

“Tolkien, a former barrister, writes with the keen and penetrating eye of a man well used to seeing beneath surfaces and with the imagination of someone who’s at home with both history and literature.”

—Santa Barbara Independent

 

“Historical thriller fans will enjoy the sleuthing into the potential assassin’s motivations, the conflicts between characters, and the well-researched portrayal of war-torn London.”

—Library Journal

 

“Filled with action and taut suspense, readers will believe they are in London during the Nazi air blitz as the raids impact the case. Orders From Berlin is a strong whodunit wrapped inside a powerful espionage thriller.”

---The Mystery Gazette blog

Praise for The King of Diamonds

 

**Named one of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Fiction Mysteries of 2011**

 

 

"Compulsively readable. As Tolkien lays out a story that's grounded in diamond-dealing and the Holocaust, the tension builds with inexorable strength. And Tolkien's nuanced portrait of the Traves is a compassionate study in the travails of marriage. Crafted with cunning and imbued with menace, The King of Diamonds adds luster to Tolkien's growing reputation as a brilliant star in the thriller firmament." --Richmond Times Dispatch

 

"A thick web of family tensions and psychological dysfunction with a whodunit chaser, Tolkien's third novel (The Inheritance, 2010, etc.) is elegantly written, with Masterpiece Theatre pacing and embellishments." --Kirkus, starred review

 

“Another literary success for [Simon Tolkien]…The claim comparing Simon Tolkien to Agatha Christie and John Grisham is not to be taken lightly.  The ironic part is just how true this statement is.  The King of Diamonds combines a deeply layered mystery with several interesting characters along with the intrigue of criminal trails and police chases.  Set against very real historical context like the Holocaust and the hunt for Adolf Eichmann… gives much credibility to a great read and a thoroughly engaging thriller.” –Bookreporter.com

 

Critical Acclaim for Simon Tolkien and The Inheritance

 

“Tolkien’s writing has a timeless quality [and] the haunting undertones of other great masters of mystery.” –USA Today

 

“A fine novel. A thinking person’s Da Vinci Code.” --Chicago Tribune

 

“Simon Tolkien’s grandfather is J. R. R., but his new novel owes more to Agatha Christie—and Dan Brown.” --New York Times

 

"A deft combination of Agatha Christie manor-house whodunit, Erle Stanley Gardner courtroom drama and Dan Brown thriller, The Inheritance is nonetheless unique to its creator. And Tolkien, with this compelling read, proves himself worthy—and then some—of his literary pedigree."  --Richmond Times Dispatch

 

“Display[s] a narrative skill that the author of The Lord of the Rings would surely have recognized and admired.” --Philadelphia Inquirer

 

“A first-rate writer…Written with great surety and absolutely compelling.” --Booklist (starred review)

 

“This second novel (after The Final Witness) by J.R.R. Tolkien's grandson is a legal thriller, World War II historical novel, and Da Vinci Code treasure hunt all rolled into one… an absorbing 1950s-era mystery.” --Library Journal

Library Journal

As German bombs light up 1940 London by night, Deputy CI John Quaid and his assistant, William Trave, are called to a murder scene: the ex-head of Britain's MI6 has been killed. Quaid decides the villain has to be the dead man's son-in-law. Trave is not so sure. Why did the current deputy head of MI6, Alec Thorn, seek out his former boss? Thorn, for his part, hates his aide, Charles Seaforth, in part because the latter runs a double agent in Hitler's inner circle. And in Berlin? Hitler, who would prefer to invade the Soviet Union, tasks Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Gestapo and the SD (the SS's intelligence branch), with eliminating Churchill, the main man keeping England in the war. Their agent? A mole high up in MI6. VERDICT Tolkien's fourth novel (after The King of Diamonds) is a well-told story with a few questionable features, among them the revelation of the assassin's identity at midpoint, which lessens the suspense. Still, historical thriller fans will enjoy the sleuthing into the potential assassin's motivations, the conflicts between characters, and the well-researched portrayal of war-torn London.—Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Kirkus Reviews

In the early years of World War II, a plot as ingenious as it is outrageous unfolds in London and Berlin. With Reichsmarschall Goering at his side, Adolf Hitler convenes a military conference in September 1940 to develop an invasion plan for Britain, and something more. Taking Gestapo head Reinhard Heydrich aside, he outlines an entirely different plot focused not on invasion, but on disinformation, deploying several covert agents to target Winston Churchill. Meanwhile, in London, Alec Thorn, second-in-command at MI6, is strangely exhilarated by the Nazi threat. He goes to visit the astute and knowledgeable Albert Morrison, the former head of MI6 who Thorn thinks was put out to pasture far too early. Shortly after this visit, Morrison is killed in a suspicious fall. His daughter Ava, with whom Thorn has a past relationship he is anxious to rekindle, claims that he was pushed. But nothing in the complex case is exactly as it seems, as the young investigator Trave (The King of Diamonds, 2011, etc.) soon learns. When family and the British Secret Service attempt to stonewall Trave, his boss, DCI John Quaid, must intercede, injecting new tension into the relationship between the two men. As the duo dig deeper, they uncover chicanery surrounding the victim's will and the Berlin-based plot not just to confuse, but perhaps to kill Churchill. In his third Inspector Trave thriller, Tolkien's plot surpasses his prose, which often lacks subtlety or style. But satisfying twists and authentic WWII elements should keep readers engaged.