• Includes bonus copy of Childers' first novel In the Ranks of the CIV, the pre-curser to Riddle of the Sands involving his S.African service.
The first modern espionage thriller, The Riddle of the Sands tells the story of Carruthers, a Foreign Office chair-warmer who accepts a yachting holiday invitation to tour the Baltic Sea with his friend Davies,. The yacht is actually a small craft, and Davies plan for the holiday involves discovering why he was almost rammed by German yacht and exactly what activities the European might be up to in the Frisian islands. Are the Germans on a treasure hunt or involved in something far more sinister? The duo discover Germany is planning to invade England, and that the attack is being led by the father of the woman Davies loves.
Erskine, like his compatriot William Le Queux, lays the groundwork in this 1903 novel for a series of invasion fiction preceding World War I. His novel is stylish and classic rather than jingoistic, however, using documents, maps and other evidence to wind a believable tale of intrigue on the high seas. It is the same technique that will eventually be adopted by other great British spy novelists including Ian Fleming and John Le Carre.
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