Back Room Girl: By the author of Paul Temple

Back Room Girl: By the author of Paul Temple
Francis Durbridge

Melvyn Barnes

Never published in paperback, and back in print for the first time since 1950, Back Room Girl was the first original novel by Francis Durbridge.Retiring to No Man’s Cove in Cornwall to write his memoirs, crime reporter Roy Benton discovers that a disused tin mine has become a research station for a secret weapons project. Karen Silvers, in charge of operations, reluctantly accepts that Benton’s experience could help her fight a sinister organisation intent on stealing their plans.Having adapted five of his Paul Temple radio serials into successful novelisations, in 1950 Francis Durbridge decided to try his hand at writing his first original novel. Back Room Girl bore all the hallmarks of the famous Paul Temple stories, an outlandish mixture of mystery, glamour and suspense, in a book that was never reprinted and so became an enigma to his many fans – until now.Includes an introduction by bibliographer Melvyn Barnesplus two rare short stories written for Christmas annuals:LIGHT-FINGERS and A PRESENT FROM PAUL TEMPLE.

FRANCIS DURBRIDGE

Back Room Girl

PLUS

Light-Fingers

AND

A Present from Paul Temple

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MELVYN BARNES

Copyright (#ue4053d8a-340c-5b71-ac38-3a57732e09bf)

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by John Long 1950

‘Light-Fingers’ and ‘A Present from Paul Temple’

first published in the Daily Mail Annual for Boys and Girls

by Associated Newspapers 1950, 1951

Copyright © Francis Durbridge 1950, 1951

Introduction © Melvyn Barnes 2018

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Francis Durbridge asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008242039

Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008242022

Version: 2018-01-09

Table of Contents

Cover (#u2027ee1e-cbdf-5e7c-b5bc-a73bea23b173)

Title Page (#udf818fc9-f5c5-5a38-8cc5-52fa9f98207a)

Copyright (#u3a9d5b29-e827-5e6c-98b0-31895b4deced)

Introduction (#u29120eb4-9302-5360-b93c-569bc69e1baa)

Chapter I: Strange Visitors (#u0f7dde0c-e7e0-50a7-b953-6fdaca82a7aa)

Chapter II: Discovery of no Man’s Cove (#u7bd1a07f-bd3d-5100-8d7e-97e841098d40)

Chapter III: A Man’s Life (#u425df6a1-9d95-59eb-87b4-898985fd32af)

Chapter IV: Rude Awakening (#uf0686feb-b1a3-54f6-b951-d96caf120eef)

Chapter V: Chief Inspector Leyland Explains (#u467d0b90-b8cd-5c4b-941d-3ad073020694)

Chapter VI: Bait for a Trap (#u744b487b-5a07-51bd-8626-0fdb499a87dc)

Chapter VII: Atomic Secrets (#uf462b36f-0187-526f-b327-2c86e630fbe9)

Chapter VIII: A Shot in the Dark (#u13232b4a-c584-523b-94db-26f3589699e3)

Chapter IX: Smugglers and Monks (#ua218841c-feaf-5a47-9f7b-d25ed821ff71)

Chapter X: The Man With the Handcart (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XI: Attempted Murder (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XII: Strange Behaviour at the Inn (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIII: Midnight Rendezvous (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XIV: Coffee for Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XV: The Man in the Combe (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter XVI: Charlie Gets a Shock (#litres_trial_promo)