Mark Hebden Books in Order

Young Jess Ferigo's involvement in poaching brings him into contact with Pat Fee and the troubled, educated Old Boxer. Their sailing adventures become part of his passage into adulthood, as life at sea tests his judgment and loyalties.

Four men from a downed RAF aircraft drift in a dinghy on the North Sea. One carries vital information about German rocket technology, making their struggle against exposure and the search for rescue crucial to the war effort.

In a remote Sierra Leone mining community, the manager of an iron mine holds considerable power over workers and residents. Racial tensions and dependence on the mine make leadership, survival and responsibility difficult questions far from effective outside authority.

An Italian fisherman and his wife Rosa face losing their mortgaged boat and livelihood in Sydney. Rosa proposes a voyage across the Pacific to America in a small houseboat, joined by Willie, whose reasons for leaving complicate their escape.

British artist Tom Patch finds romance with Cecilia on the Italian island of Anapoli. The island's peaceful existence is threatened by its volcano, forcing personal hopes and relationships into the shadow of an approaching natural disaster.

English fugitive Harry Ash becomes caught in a South American revolt against a dictator. Pursued amid political violence, he joins Grace Rodrigo in a desperate attempt to reach the coast, where another passenger threatens their precarious escape.

In South Africa in 1914, Boer generals rebel against the governments of Jan Smuts and Louis Botha. Their struggle to link up with German forces leads rival armies toward the Battle of Sheba, where patriotic ambitions carry bloody consequences.

An attempted assassination of a senior American general throws Paris into turmoil, even though the gun is never fired. Political intrigue surrounds the incident as the story examines the obsession, arrogance and dangerous intentions behind a would-be killer's actions.

After Commander Adams dies, his Arctic expedition struggles with damaged equipment, dwindling supplies and the long polar winter. Believed dead at home, the survivors depend on Tom Fife, who must persuade others that a rescue is still possible.

An ancient Christian city discovered beneath an Italian lake attracts religious excitement, scientific interest and political rivalry. When engineer Henry Chappell warns that a dam may burst, saving the living community could mean burying the historic site again.

Former comrades return to the Western Desert twenty years after fighting together in the Second World War. Their search for treasure exposes how much they have changed, as greed undermines old loyalties and brings treachery and murder.

In 1939, a challenge to Lieutenant General Henry Prideaux's military reputation leads to a court case. Witnesses revisit a cavalry action in the Russian Civil War, questioning whether the celebrated commander truly earned the honor attached to his name.

A British force sent to reoccupy Malala faces consequences far beyond its original mission. As Russian submarines move into range and the danger of nuclear war grows, the crisis provokes political decisions and public protests at home.

First World War pilot Ira Penaluna accepts command of a Chinese warlord's makeshift air force to keep flying. Joined by three eccentric companions, he soon discovers that serving a corrupt ruler places them in the path of rebellion.

Veteran pilot Ira Penaluna and his navigator daughter Alix compete for a prize offered for a transatlantic flight. Problems with their aircraft and news of Lindbergh's imminent departure push them toward a dangerous takeoff in terrible weather.

Major Billy Pentecost prepares to evacuate a remote desert fort with his small British force. Outside, tribesmen await the return of their land, but a change in orders threatens the understanding Pentecost has formed with their commander.

On a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, unfamiliar arrivals disturb the residents' quiet lives. Their presence brings violence and intimidation, forcing islanders to confront the criminals and protect a community whose apparent peace conceals growing danger.

This historical account examines the British campaign in the Crimea leading to the Charge of the Light Brigade. It traces the military decisions and personalities surrounding the 1854 disaster, placing the famous cavalry action in its wider context.

Colonel Mostyn and Venner investigate unusual recruitment of former submariners in Portsmouth and the disappearance of a submarine stage set. Their intelligence work connects these events with an offshore hijacking involving a vessel carrying nerve gas toward Africa.

As the Boer War ends, three thieves steal an army payroll and bury it near a Free State town. Waiting to retrieve their fortune proves difficult when an officer is assigned to track them through South Africa's diamond country.

In May 1940, Allied troops trapped between German forces and the sea face capture or destruction. This wartime novel follows the Dunkirk evacuation, as an improvised fleet of vessels attempts to bring the stranded soldiers back across the Channel.

When a Lancaster bomber is attacked over occupied France, Neville and Urqhart survive by parachuting from the aircraft. They join the French Resistance, where evading German forces and fighting alongside local men becomes a dangerous struggle for survival.

Lieutenant-Colonel George Hockold sees an opportunity to strike the German-held North African port of Qaba. His improvised commandos undertake Operation Cut-Price, aiming to disrupt the enemy and deny Rommel's forces fuel before the Eighth Army's larger offensive.

Marine Michael Anthony Cotton helps supply the Greek Resistance as Nazi forces threaten to overwhelm Greece. Smuggling weapons and money across the Aegean puts him in danger, and one final mission demands that he confront the advancing enemy.

Inspector Pel investigates a mutilated corpse whose concealed identity seems central to the murder. His inquiries across Burgundy and toward the frontier encounter stubborn silence, mistaken identities and wartime grievances that make the victim's past difficult to uncover.

A badly battered murder victim draws Chief Inspector Pel into a puzzling investigation in provincial France. As clues accumulate without a clear explanation, a second killing and the involvement of a small boy change the direction of his inquiries.

In the Paris of Napoleon III, Vardy Cutter falls in love with soldier of fortune Colonel Max Cary de Lily. The Franco-Prussian War and siege of Paris threaten their relationship, while a court martial puts his career and life at risk.

This nonfiction account follows the Dunkirk evacuation day by day as British and Allied troops face encirclement in France. Harris examines how the rescue developed under pressure and reassesses familiar claims about the operation that brought soldiers back to England.

A student's unexplained death and a corpse hidden in a car lead Inspector Pel toward a drug ring operating at his city's university. Further murders take the investigation to Innsbruck, where a professor's mistress raises new questions.

With Monte Cassino blocking the Allied advance toward Rome, repeated frontal attacks have proved costly. Brigadier Heathfield proposes an ambitious maneuver around the German position, placing the prospects of the campaign on a dangerous operation with little room for failure.

During preparations for D-Day, a German agent known as the Fox threatens the security of the invasion. After an E-boat attack results in missing secret plans, two officers must recover the documents before they reach enemy hands.

Escaped prisoner of war Martin Falconer fights to return to flying duties in France in 1918. Back at the front, he finds aerial warfare increasingly regimented and exhausting, forcing him to confront its strain and his hopes beyond the war.

In 1939, Magnusson is sent aboard a windjammer to gather naval intelligence in Norway. Seeking information about German raiders and blockade runners draws him and the crew toward dangerous operations as war spreads through the northern waters.

Inspector Pel investigates thefts of valuable objects from churches and chateaux while enduring a noisy home life. A suspicious death turns the inquiry into a murder case, leading him toward international police cooperation and the Tour de France.

John Harris investigates unresolved maritime disasters and disappearances, including Franklin's Arctic expedition and the abandoned Mary Celeste. Drawing on fragmentary evidence and his experience at sea, he reassesses the final voyages of ships whose lost crews left enduring questions.

Naval commander Kelly Maguire faces the Second World War through Dunkirk, Mediterranean fighting, and the Normandy landings. Personal tragedy shadows his leadership, while a final assignment threatens the career he has built amid years of combat.

Five murders on Bastille night alert Chief Inspector Pel to terrorists operating in his Burgundian city. With a presidential visit approaching, he must identify the killers and prevent an assassination while continuing his courtship of Madame Faivre-Perret.

A fraudster's murder and attacks on gay men occupy Pel's detectives during a bitter Burgundian winter. A wealthy businessman's disappearance adds another puzzle, especially when his family seems indifferent and only his devoted staghound appears concerned.

Cut off behind enemy lines in British Somaliland, four British soldiers discover a hidden arms cache and attempt a rearguard campaign. Harkaway seeks an alliance between rival tribes while a missionary becomes involved with his improvised fighting force.

Separated from his unit during the Allied invasion of France, Charles Walter Scully meets a French boy trying to reach Paris. Their journey draws him into the liberation struggle, forcing him to navigate occupied territory and renewed conflict.

Pursuing Nazi saboteurs in Sierra Leone, Ginger Donnelly witnesses a seaplane crash while paddling a canoe at night. When a second aircraft explodes along the same route, the apparent accident begins to suggest a deliberate attack.

Pel's island honeymoon with Geneviève is interrupted by a taxi driver's murder on their first night. The man's attempt to contact him points toward arson and smuggling, forcing Pel to investigate a community reluctant to reveal its secrets.

Newly promoted Chief Inspector Pel investigates a woman's death that initially appears to be suicide but offers several suspects. Meanwhile, a letter bomb from an old enemy threatens his safety and complicates his plans to marry Madame Faivre-Perret.

Enjoying married life away from his former housekeeper's oppressive routines, Chief Inspector Pel is drawn back into police work by strangled young women. Macabre messages left beside the bodies lead his investigation into the city's student community.

Violent gangs from Paris and Marseilles bring unwelcome trouble to Pel's Burgundy. A robbery near Dijon airport and shootings at an iron foundry demand attention, while Sergeant Misset's romantic misadventures add further complications to the chief inspector's workload.

Flying Officer Anthony Boumphrey must defend the isolated RAF airstrip at Kubaiyah as German forces threaten the Middle East. Equipped with training aircraft and biplanes, his squadron faces enemy fighters and artillery with little prospect of outside support.

The Desert Ratbags, a concert party stranded behind enemy lines, turn their varied talents toward survival. Stealing weapons, vehicles, and uniforms pulls the entertainers deeper into fighting, transforming their improvised escape efforts into direct involvement in the war.

The murders of a gangster and his bodyguard send Chief Inspector Pel and his assistant to Mexico. Knowing how the killings occurred is not enough: the motive leads toward a treasure hunt connected to France's nineteenth-century intervention there.

Deputy Claude Barclay's kidnapping coincides with a retired soldier's murder and an investigation into forged paintings. Pel's previous visit to Barclay's home compromises his position, leaving him to connect the cases while facing interference from outside investigators.

An ambushed gangster's killing leaves a ten-year-old boy as its only witness. Chief Inspector Pel investigates, but a respected unmarried woman's subsequent murder reveals connections that take the inquiry beyond Burgundy and into a wider international criminal puzzle.

Willie Sarth struggles to survive a succession of dangers across East Asian waters. Pirates in the East China Sea, desperate fighting farther south, and a typhus-stricken crossing of the Sea of Japan entangle his life with war and revolution.

A fatal stabbing, an expected drug shipment, and a decades-old corpse discovered in a tower overwhelm Pel's district. Searching for two murderous hitchhikers, the chief inspector pursues connections through a carnival crowded with dancers, jugglers, and fire-eaters.

As Europe approaches the First World War, renegade British cavalry officer Pierce Slattery joins Pancho Villa's Mexican revolutionaries. His military experience aids poorly prepared peasant fighters, but British intelligence takes an interest in both the uprising and Slattery himself.

An armed gang's robberies and the unexplained death of an old man strain Pel's reduced team as disappearances divert officers elsewhere. His trusted deputy Darcy's suspension on bribery suspicions adds another obstacle to investigations involving violence and hidden connections.

As German forces overrun France, young intelligence officer James Woodyatt is sent across the Channel to locate a veteran of the First World War. The older man's possible espionage history and knowledge of Nazi secrets make the search urgent.

Suspicious fires threaten protected Burgundian waterfront land coveted by developers. Chief Inspector Pel investigates alongside smuggling and other local crimes, while a baron's wife's murder and warnings about foreign criminals suggest a wider scheme behind the destruction.

A body recovered from a canal carries a mysterious drawing, while a bank robbery becomes a hostage crisis. Elsewhere, an art student substitutes copies for valuable paintings, leaving Chief Inspector Pel to uncover the connections between apparently separate crimes.

A young man's skill in developing a new high-speed launch draws him into maritime fighting during the First World War. His fortunes at sea intertwine technical innovation and combat with the personal relationships, losses, and loves shaped by war.