Front Page Fridays Week-30
Front Page Fridays Week-30
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-30. On Fridays I showcase the first page of a book.
My Front Page Fridays Week-30 guest is Madalyn Morgan and her historical novel, Justice. It’s a crime/spy thriller set in 1960 and the tenth instalment of her Sisters of Wartime England series.
Here’s the opening:
Chapter One
Ena unlocked the street door to Dudley Green Associates. As it closed, she crossed the lobby to the main office, which she shared with her colleague, Artie Mallory. She unlocked its door and pushed, but it resisted. She pushed again, this time harder, and it gave way swinging back on its hinges. She reached for the light switch and flicked it on. Before her eyes became accustomed to the light, the door flew back at her with contrived force and knocked her off her feet. Someone was behind it. Instinctively she raised her arm to shield her face and slid down the wall. With her eyes shut she waited, hoping that whoever was in the office would think she was unconscious. She felt heavy fabric brush the top of her head as the intruder stepped over her and switched off the light.
Her throat was dry, she was desperate to swallow, but the lack of movement told her that she was being watched. After a long silence she heard the sound of heavy shoes on the stone floor of the entrance lobby. The man – for Ena was sure now that it was a man – had a long stride and a heavy footfall. Keeping her head low, she opened her eyes a little and looked down from underneath her eyelashes. From her position on the floor the man looked like a giant. At a guess he was over six feet tall and thickset with broad shoulders. She was unable to see the colour of his hair as he wore a trilby.
Ena watched him pull open the door to Mercer Street. At the same time a dark saloon car left the car park opposite. Neither the car’s headlights nor sidelights were on. The only illumination was from its brake lights. They flashed an orangey-red as the car free-wheeled over the tarmac. Crunching chips of loose gravel beneath its tyres the car bumped over the pavement onto Mercer Street. Ena closed her eyes as it coasted to a standstill.
She sat motionless, straining her ears. She heard the passenger door slam and a second later the green Ford Zephyr that she had seen when she parked the Sunbeam, accelerated away.
Ena stayed slumped against the wall for some time; her eyes shut, her senses heightened. She felt a draught. It was only slight, but it told her that the street door was open. She had heard the car leave, but someone could be in the doorway, or watching her from the pavement. She had sensed there were two people in the office, but there could have been a third person outside, keeping watch. When there had been no sound for what Ena estimated was five minutes, she opened her eyes. The street door stood ajar, but there was no one beyond it and the lobby was empty.
She lifted her left arm and groaned. A searing pain shot from her elbow to her shoulder where the office door had slammed into her. She lifted her arm again, slowly. It hurt less this time. She was able to move it a little, which was something she thought. At least it wasn’t broken. She tried to rotate it, but quickly stopped. That did hurt.
With her back against the wall, she exhaled with relief. She was alive and whoever had broken into the office had gone. She leaned to the right, allowed gravity to pull her upper body down, before using her right hand as a lever to push herself up into a kneeling position before scrambling to her feet.
On stiff and shaky legs, Ena hobbled into the lobby. She pulled on the door handles of both the waiting room and the cloakroom, before kicking them open and putting on the lights. When she was satisfied that there were no intruders lying in wait for her, she limped to the main door and out onto the pavement. There was no one in the street and the only vehicle in the car park was her Sunbeam Rapier. Supporting her left elbow with her right hand to ensure her forearm and wrist were as comfortable as possible against her body, she returned to the door. Crouching down until her eyes were level with the lock, she saw it was intact. There was not a scratch on it, nor on the door or doorframe. ‘Lock picks!’ she said, under her breath. Closing the door and locking it, Ena returned to her office.
‘The files!’ she sighed. Why else would the office be broken into? The files were the most obvious reason. Crossing the room, Ena’s heart began to pound. The filing cabinet drawers were closed, but no longer locked. She pulled open the top drawer and walked her fingers across the plastic labels on top of each file. No client names or job titles were missing. It seemed at first glance that nothing was out of place. If they’d removed any files, they’d been meticulous in putting them back in the right order. She then opened the second drawer. Just like the first, nothing appeared to be missing. As she pulled open the third drawer her stomach lurched. The file on her late friend and work colleague, Sid Parfitt – Berlin, pre and post 1936 – had gone.
Ena pushed the cabinet drawers to, went over to her desk and took a key ring with a dozen keys on it from the top drawer. There was little point in locking the filing cabinet now, but she did anyway. Dropping the keys into her desk drawer she slumped down in her chair. A thought suddenly struck her. The intruder hadn’t locked the filing cabinet. She was sure they would have done if she hadn’t disturbed them; everything about the break-in – from being knocked down but not hurt – apart from her arm, which was accidental rather than intentional – smacked of the intelligence services.
Ena sat perfectly still. Only her eyes moved as she quickly scrutinised the room. There was nothing to see on or above the picture rail. She got up and went over to the window, pulled on the catch, but found it locked. She ran her hand along the top of the window frame and then the blind. Nothing. Turning round, her back against the windowsill, she scanned Artie’s desk. She couldn’t swear to it as she hadn’t taken much notice, but it appeared to be as he had left it. She looked at her own desk. Everything was the same as she had left it too; blotter, pen, notebook, diary and telephone… Or was it?
Ena pushed herself off the windowsill and crossed to her desk. Sitting in her chair she mimed picking up the telephone. Something wasn’t right. Was it the handset? She caught her breath. The handset was the correct way round on the cradle, but… She sat back. The cable was on the far side of the telephone, hanging down the outside of the desk. There was no earth-shattering reason for it, it was just a habit of Ena’s that she always placed the cable on the inside, so it wasn’t visible to clients sitting opposite her. She shuddered. Until eighteen months ago she had worked for the Home Office as Head of the Cold Cases department. She hated the lies, the dirty tricks, spies and traitors – and having to continually sweep the office for listening devices.
The deciding factor for Ena leaving the Home Office was when her friend, Sid Parfitt, was killed on Waterloo Bridge by a spy he had known in Berlin when he was a child. When she had exposed the woman and the spy ring responsible for her colleague’s murder, she resigned.
Special Branch and MI5 were as bad. Worse. They didn’t only bug people’s workplaces, they bugged their homes. MI5 had bugged her previous flat. Anger bubbled up inside her. She had thought those days were in the past. Looking at the telephone, she realised she was wrong.
Getting up, she crossed the room to leave. At the door she reached out to put off the light but looked up and sighed with frustration before flicking the switch. If there was a bug in the ceiling light it could stay there until tomorrow. She opened the office door and bent down to scrutinise the doorframe and lock. Similar to the front door, there was no sign of forced entry. The lock hadn’t been tampered with. Ena switched off the light, closed the door and crossed the lobby to the street door. Before leaving she looked at the lock once more. Not a scratch. There was no point getting the locks changed. Ena knew from experience that a professional in the intelligence services – British or any other nationality – could get into any building they wished. And this intruder, Ena knew, was a professional.
About the Book.
In the most recent instalment of this gripping series, past meets present and dark secrets lurk beneath the façade of justice…
After a brutal break-in at Dudley Green Associates, Ena Dudley and her colleague Artie Mallory are plunged into a dangerous investigation that intertwines wartime secrets, betrayal and treason.
Ena is intrigued when a new client approaches the agency, saying he has received a series of anonymous letters. Digging deeper, she finds a haunting photograph of a child taken during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, in a Germany gripped by the Nazis' brutal reign. The letters lead to Michael Crosier, a man believed to have been murdered while working undercover, and his widow Audrey, who, when they track her down, offers more questions than answers.
As Ena travels from London to Scotland and on to Shetland in a fishing boat, she soon realises that their client’s enemies from the war are as dangerous as ever. The letters hide a secret that’s important enough to kill for, even after all these years. Has Ena unintentionally put her own life on the line? Can she solve the case in time to save her client and herself?
Purchase Link
Storm Publishing publishes JUSTICE, the tenth novel in the Sisters of Wartime England Series.
About the Author
Madalyn was brought up in a busy pub in a market town called Lutterworth. From a small child, she wanted to be an actress. She was offered a television role when she was fifteen, but her mother said she should have a 'proper' job, so she did a hairdressing apprenticeship instead. Eight years later, at twenty-four, she won a place at East 15 Drama College. Two years later, she sold two successful businesses and began a career as an actress, working in Repertory theatre, the West End, film and television. In 2000, she gave up acting, completed a two-year college course and began writing articles while presenting a music show on radio.
In 2010, after living in London for thirty-six years, Madalyn returned to Lutterworth, swapping two window boxes and a mortgage for a garden and the freedom to write. Since then, she has written a series of ten novels. The first four books, set in World War II, introduce the Dudley sisters. Three post-war books follow, and then three crime/spy thrillers take the Dudley sisters to 1960. Each story stands alone with links to the other stories. Madalyn has written a collection of short stories and poetry called Scenes from My Life – and is about to publish her eleventh novel, TRIBUTE, A Bittersweet Celebration, set in the shadows of the theatre, in 1970.
Website and Social media links
Website: www.madalynmorgan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madalyn.morgan1
Twitter: Madalyn Morgan (@ActScribblerDJ) / X
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madalynmorgan1
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madalyn-morgan-b27317b
Bluesky: Madalyn Morgan (@madalymorgan.bsky.social)
Books by Madalyn Morgan with links
Foxden Acres: https://geni.us/23-Storm
Destiny: https://geni.us/23-Storm
Betrayal: https://geni.us/25-Storm
Redemption: https://geni.us/26-Storm
Legacy: https://geni.us/27-po-fbo-am
Reckoning: https://geni.us/236-Storm
Confessions: https://geni.us/242-Storm
Secrets: https://geni.us/248-Storm
Obsessions: https://geni.us/263-al-aut-ch
Justice: https://geni.us/269-al-aut-ch
Scenes From My Life: www.amazon.co.uk/Scenes-My-Life/dp/B0DBY81X7P
I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-30. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
1. Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
2. Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
3. Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
4. The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant
5. Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby – Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant
6. The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon – Front Page Fridays Week-6 - Rachel Sargeant
7. The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray – Front Page Fridays Week-7 - Rachel Sargeant
8. Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake – Front Page Fridays Week-8 - Rachel Sargeant
9. The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood - https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-9/
10. The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-10 - Rachel Sargeant
11. Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler – Front Page Fridays Week-11 - Rachel Sargeant
12. Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant – Front Page Fridays Week-12 - Rachel Sargeant
13. Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber – Front Page Fridays Week-13 - Rachel Sargeant
14. Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey – Front Page Fridays Week-14 - Rachel Sargeant
15. The Shame by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-15 - Rachel Sargeant
16. Dead Mile by Jo Furniss – Front Page Fridays Week-16 — Rachel Sargeant
17. The Violin and Candlestick by David Jarvis – Front Page Fridays Week-17 — Rachel Sargeant
18. New Memories by S.E. Shepherd – Front Page Fridays Week-18 — Rachel Sargeant
19. Young Blood by Victoria Gemmell – Front Page Fridays Week-19 — Rachel Sargeant
20. Private Investigations by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-20 — Rachel Sargeant
21. The Car Horn revolution by A.J. Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-21 — Rachel Sargeant
22. What Lies Beneath by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-22 — Rachel Sargeant
23. A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty – Front Page Fridays Week-23 — Rachel Sargeant
24. Fatal Image by Brian Price – Front Page Fridays Week-24 — Rachel Sargeant
25. Run For Your Lies by A.A. Abbott – Front Page Fridays Week-25 — Rachel Sargeant
26. A Walk in the Park by Natalie Kleinman – Front Page Fridays Week-26 — Rachel Sargeant
27. A Storm in a Teacup by Rachael Gray – Front Page Fridays Week-27 — Rachel Sargeant
28. The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-28
29. A Death in the Afternoon by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-29 — Rachel Sargeant