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The Whitsun half term is a time for history teacher Peter Maxwell to put his feet up, drop his guard and oil his bike chain. But not this time. Maxwell's brief idyll is cut short by a desperate call for help from his old friend, Cambridge lecturer John Irving.
Irving is acting as historical adviser to a film company making a bodice-ripper on the south coast. But the plot calls for military knowhow -and Irving hasn't a clue. For old time's sake, the indefatigable Head of Sixth lends a hand.
As Maxwell is to discover, the knives-out politics of Leighford High are as nothing to the cut-throat world of television production. 'Mad Max' has a week to give a motley crew of Scan Bean wannabes the vaguest resemblance to the troops ranged against Napoleon's planned invasion of 1804.
But his difficulties have only just begun. Filming is interrupted when the director is shot dead during a skirmish on the beach. The gun that did the killing was fired by Giles Sparrow, one of Maxwell's sixth formers earning a few bob as an extra.
It was Sparrow's finger on the trigger, but Maxwell gave the order to fire. Determined to clear the name of his boy recruit, Max concludes that someone must have switched guns. But who? And why? Mad Max might have come to Willow Bay to re-enact a war - but he's going to end up fighting one.
book reviews
- Yorkshire Post
'Trow's touch has never been surer. Refreshing as ever, the characters simply leap off the page.' - Sunday Tribune
'Well-drawn atmosphere, witty dialogue and fresh characters make this a lively read.' - Shots
'Both funny and touching, suspenseful and mysterious in turn, Trow takes us through his latest conundrum to a satisfying conclusion.'
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