84. Journey Into Fear (Eric Ambler)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Returning to his hotel room after a late-night flirtation with a cabaret dancer at an Istanbul club, Graham is surprised by an intruder with a gun. What follows is a nightmare of intrigue for the English armaments engineer as he makes his way home aboard an Italian freighter. Among the passengers are a couple of Nazi assassins intent on preventing his returning to England with plans for a Turkish defense system, the seductive cabaret dancer and her manager husband, and a number of surprising allies.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• Published in 1940 by Hodder
• DJ priced 8/3

74. A Coffin for Dimitrios (Eric Ambler)

Synopsis from Amazon:
A chance encounter with a Turkish colonel with a penchant for British crime novels leads mystery writer Charles Latimer into a world of sinister political and criminal maneuvers throughout the Balkans in the years between the world wars. Hoping that the career of the notorious Dimitrios, whose body has been identified in an Istanbul morgue, will inspire a plot for his next novel, Latimer soon finds himself caught up in a shadowy web of assassination, espionage, drugs, and treachery.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• Published as The Mask of Dimitrios in 1939 by Hodder
• DJ priced 7/6
• US: A Coffin for Dimitrios
  

71. Cause for Alarm (Eric Ambler)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Nicky Marlow needs a job. He’s engaged to be married and the employment market is pretty slim in Britain in 1937. So when his fiancé points out the Spartacus Machine Tool notice, he jumps at the chance. After all, he speaks Italian and he figures he’ll be able to endure Milan for a year, long enough to save some money. Soon after he arrives, however, he learns the sinister truth of his predecessor’s death and finds himself courted by two agents with dangerously different agendas. In the process, Marlow realizes it’s not so simple to just do the job he’s paid to do in fascist Italy on the eve of a world war.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• Published in October 1938 by Hodder
• DJ priced 7/6

70. Background to Danger (Eric Ambler)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Kenton's career as a journalist depended on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics, and his quick judgment. Where his judgment sometimes failed him was in his personal life. When he finds himself on a train bound for Austria with insufficient funds after a bad night of gambling, he jumps at the chance to earn a fee to help a refugee smuggle securities across the border. He soon discovers that the documents he holds have a more than monetary value, and that European politics has more twists and turns than the most convoluted newspaper account.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• Published as Uncommon Danger in 1937 by Hodder
• DJ priced 7/6
  
• US: Background to Danger
  

54. Epitaph for a Spy (Eric Ambler)

Synopsis from Amazon:
When Josef Vadassy arrives at the Hotel de la Reserve at the end of his Riviera holiday, he is simply looking forward to a few more days of relaxation before returning to Paris. But in St. Gatien, on the eve of World War II, everyone is suspect–the American brother and sister, the expatriate Brits, and the German gentleman traveling under at least one assumed name. When the film he drops off at the chemist reveals photographs he has not taken, Vadassy finds himself the object of intense suspicion. The result is anything but the rest he had been hoping for.

My rating: 5 stars

Publication information:

• Published in 1938 by Hodder UK
• DJ priced 7/6