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Past But Very Present

by Gray Laidlaw

296 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-3233; ISBN 1-4251-1474-1; US$22.61, C$26.00, EUR18.57, £13.00

Past But Very Present is a story of love across the generations and how long-buried secrets can come back to haunt the living...

About the Book

Flying Officer Henry Burton is forced to bail out of his Beaufighter over France at the height of World War II. He manages to escape to Spain and eventually back to Britain but is killed in a flying accident shortly afterwards. But while in France, Henry was witness to a bloody murder and the theft of a priceless cache of jewels.

Sixty years later, his grandson, Charles Burton, travels back to France to retrace his grandfather's footsteps. Armed with new information, Charles hopes to solve the mystery of the missing treasures and return them to their rightful owners.

But it soon becomes apparent that other, more dangerous, forces are also on the trail. Charles quickly becomes embroiled in a fast-moving tale of love, betrayal and murder, involving British Intelligence, shady politicians and an organised crime syndicate.

Past But Very Present is a story of love across the generations and how long-buried secrets can come back to haunt the living...

About the Author

Gray Laidlaw was born in 1918 and now lives in Erskine Home, in the west of Scotland. He attended St Andrew's University and served in the RAF during World War II, primarily in the development of early radar. In 1944, Squadron Leader Laidlaw was posted to HQ RAF Fighter Command in charge of radar on all night fighters. It was also there, in 1943, that he met his wife Margaret who was a WRAF Section Officer. They were married in 1944 and had two children.

After the war, Gray enjoyed a successful business career in Glasgow, only taking up writing at the suggestion of his wife after he retired from the glass trade. "I've been very lucky to have had wonderful years at St Andrews University and in the RAF, and a long and happy marriage to my dear wife," says Gray. Past But Very Present is dedicated to his wife, who died in 1998.

Excerpts