The 1st May 2025 saw the launch of six new translations of Desmond Bagley titles for our German readers and fans.
The titles are available as eBooks from:
Hugendubel has their own, exclusive reader apps for both Apple and Android devices.
The titles have all been changed, but are:
The Golden Keel
The Tightrope Men
The Freedom Trap
Bahama Crisis
The Enemy
The Vivero Letter
There’s more on the way too!
Just a follow-up on my previous post about corrections I made to the Wikipedia page for Desmond Bagley. Apparently they have been rejected and reverted to their previous, incorrect state.
To say we’re stunned is probably an understatement. Clearly their editors know more than we do. Of course that is possible. However, we’re sorry to say, in this case, their preferred “facts” are just plain wrong.
A lesson for us all.
For the first time we’ve made edits to the Wikipedia article about our author. To start with the edits have been very minor to see how the process works and what the reactions may be.
It’s interesting to note that none of the previous editors – bar one – are known to us here at Bagley Towers.
For 99p you can't do better than buy Michael Davies' latest cold-war thriller "Thin Ice" as a Kindle eBook. Remember it's the third and last novel featuring Desmond Bagley's character Bill Kemp.It's a limited-time bargain and money very well spent!
Thin Ice is the third outing for Bill Kemp, a character first created by Desmond Bagley way back in the early 1970’s only to languish in an unpublished novel buried deep in a Boston archive for over forty-five years.
He was finally prepared for publication by Michael Davies, a talented script-writer and journalist, who was tasked by Harper Collins with curating the original manuscript for publication. That title became the best-seller Domino Island.
Such was the success of a new Bagley novel that it’s sequel Outback was commissioned, this time as an original story by Michael. It took our new hero, Kemp, to Australia and the murderous heat of the continent’s famous hinterland. It was also released to mark the centenary of Bagley’s birth.
Now, in 2024 the third and final novel in the Bill Kemp trilogy has arrived: Thin Ice. This time our hero is tasked with collecting an unknown package from Austria and the method used to get him to play along is simple and potentially deadly: Kidnap. From there things get more and more complex, duplicitous and deadly by the page.
Thin Ice has some genuinely lovely references to its Desmond Bagley heritage, some are subtle while others very obvious and it’s fun spotting them. To get you started you will see that the novel is divided into three parts and each is named after one of Bagley’s novels. A leading character in the story is also named after one from the novel The Freedom Trap, and Kemp’s view of the Cold War and spies in general is the same as hero Alan Stewart from Running Blind.
The attention to detail within the story is up there with Bagley’s own research standards and you can feel the cold seeping into your fingers as you read!
As much as anything we learn the female is as deadly as the male in this fast-moving and exciting story of a culture clash that divided the world and sparked decades of suspicion, conspiracy, conniving and assassination.
A splendid finale to the Bill Kemp trilogy honouring the work and legacy of Desmond Bagley.
Some lovely bargains to be had over on Amazon UK for Kindle editions of Desmond Bagley and Michael Davies titles:
High Citadel / Landslide – £2.99
Wyatt’s Hurricane / Bahama Crisis – £1.99
Snow Tiger / Night of Error – £2.99
The Spoilers / Juggernaut – £2.99
Domino Island – £2.99
Outback – £2.99
As mentioned yesterday, “Thin Ice”, by author Michael Davies, was published today by HarperCollins Publishers UK. Michael went along to BBC Northamptonshire to chat with presenter Bernie Keith about the Desmond Bagley legacy involved, and his latest work. The show is available on BBC Sounds now. Michael’s segment begins at 44m41s and lasts for about twelve minutes.
