The Black Spiders

In this classic spy thriller from an Edgar Award–winning author, a journalist goes undercover for British agency Department Z and discovers a conspiracy.

When the sound of gunfire wakes Nigel Murray in the middle of the night, he discovers two gun-wielding strangers and a woman, half-drowned in the well beneath his window. Easily disarming the threat, Murray rescues the woman, only to discover the young beauty is none other than the kidnapped niece of the leader of Canna, a peaceful island in the British Commonwealth now stirring with political unrest. Called in by the elite secret service Department Z to help stop the overthrow of Canna’s government, Murray finds himself caught up in a web of conspiracy and treason, a danger only deepened by his loyalty to the woman whose life is in hands.

Praise for John Creasey

“A splendid achievement.” —The New York Times

“Phenomenal.” —Life

“Little appears in the newspapers about the Secret Service, but that little makes anything on the subject probable fiction. Mr. Creasey proves himself worthy of the chance.” —The Times Literary Supplement

John Creasey, born in 1908, was a paramount English crime and science fiction writer who used myriad pseudonyms for more than six hundred novels. He founded the UK Crime Writers’ Association in 1953. In 1962, his book Gideon’s Fire received the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of the characters featured in Creasey’s titles became popular, including George Gideon of Scotland Yard, who was the basis for a subsequent television series and film. Creasey died in Salisbury, UK, in 1973.