The Torchbearers
A.J. Hall
The Torchbearers is a novella crossing the worlds of Mary Renault’s North Face and The Charioteer with Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey stories.
September, 1946. An airman’s body washed up on a beach brings Lord Peter and Harriet to Barlock, Somerset. To Lord Peter, the dead pilot represents unfinished business. He is the latest in a series of deaths linked to “X”, a shadowy figure who uses his connections within Bridstow’s close-knit homosexual community to extort military intelligence from vulnerable men in high-level roles. A chance encounter with an old college acquaintance hands Harriet a loose end which may have the power to unravel all X’s intrigues.
For Lilliburlero.
Warnings: The author chooses not to warn.
Advisory: Period- and source-consistent attitudes to and depictions of homosexuality, gratuitous use of Polari.
Acknowledgements:
As ever, thanks to caulkhead for betaing.
The original central cover image is based upon a drawing of a ‘De Havilland Venom’ aeroplane, by Emoscopes 2008. The fonts used in this book are from the Source Serif Pro font family by Frank Grießhammer.
The images and fonts were used under license detailed on their respective website pages at the date of this book publication.
As usual, Russ from shoes for industry designed the book cover, produced the books and compiled the on-line work.
The opinions, prejudices, faults and spelling herein are all my own work, and I apologise in advance for them.
This novella is rated
PG.
You might also like to consider other books set in the Mary Renault or Lord Peter Wimsey fandoms.
- First Edition: 19th Sep 2016
- 2nd Edition: 5th May 2021
This work is created as a transformative work on a not-for-profit basis. All rights in the underlying properties are those of their respective holders.