Gavin Lyall · 1961 · thriller

Gavin Lyall's 1961 debut, written out of his own flying in Greece and the Libyan desert. Jack Clay scratches a living hauling questionable cargo round the Mediterranean in a worn-out Dakota. In Athens he runs into an old wartime rival now flying a rich man's private aircraft - and into a hunt for a set of jewels stolen from an Indian prince during Partition.

1. 1
   Athens

   Jack Clay flies charter freight of dubious legality out of Athens in an ageing DC-3, his chances of ever owning an aircraft receding - until Ken Kitson lands beside him in a rich man's Piaggio and the past arrives too.

2. 2
   Tripoli

   The trail of the Nawab's missing jewels - carried off by a British charter pilot in the confusion of Partition - runs west along the North African coast, through the hangars and bars where flying men of that vintage end up.

3. 3
   The Libyan Desert

   Out in the desert south of the coast road lies a wrecked aircraft that has been sitting in the sand for years - and Clay flies out to it knowing that whoever else finds it first will not want witnesses.