In The Presence Of The Enemy - Softcover

As the editor of a popular left-wing tabloid, Dennis Luxford has made a career out of exposing scandal and destroying reputations. When he is offered the chance of breaking another government 'sleaze' story and boosting the circulation of his paper still further, his hesitation seems inexplicable. But at the heart of this particular scoop lies the kidnapping of a ten-year-old girl: Luxford's daughter.

To save the life of his first-born child, whom he has never seen, Luxford must reveal the details of his brief affair with the child's mother on the front page of his newspaper. But the liaison was no ordinary one-night stand. For the woman involved is Eve Bowen, now the Undersecretary of State for the Home Office. And even when it becomes clear that her daughter Charlotte is missing, Eve refuses to involve the police, insisting that her child's disappearance is simply a ploy, however despicable, by Luxford to bring down the Tory government.

It is only when events escalate to unbearable heights that New Scotland Yard, in the guise of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, are brought in. And as their investigations move from the heart of parliamentary London to rural Wiltshire, both Lynley and Havers discover that treachery and betrayal lie perilously close to home.

Elizabeth George's first novel, A Great Deliverance, was honoured with the Anthony and Agatha Best First Novel awards in America and received the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in France. That was followed by the critically acclaimed Payment in Blood and then Well-Schooled in Murder, which was awarded the prestigious German prize for international mystery fiction, the MIMI, in 1990. Her later novels are the highly acclaimed A Suitable Vengeance, For the Sake of Elena, Missing Joseph, Playing for the Ashes and In the Presence of the Enemy. Elizabeth George divides her time between Huntington Beach, California, and London.