SINISTER SERVICE

First Published in June 1942 - 191 pages

 

The original first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 5 shillings.

 

The 1949 second edition dust jacket was also priced at 5 shillings.

The writing on the inner flap has been edited down for this edition and now finishes on the word “tame”.  The additional words on the first edition dust jacket “- which is not surprising” are now deleted

 

The different version of the 1949 second edition dust jacket was also priced at 5 shillings.

Not only is there now a dotted line by the price and the wording on the inner flap spaced out differently, but the author of “The Dangerous Road” on the back has been changed from ‘John Newton Chance’ to “David C Newton”. 

How did they get the author’s name wrong on the back of the book?  Well, they didn’t.  John Newton Chance and David C. Newton are the same person.  The first is his real name and the second is one of his pen names.

The book “The Dangerous Road” was released under the pen name of “David C Newton” so this dust jacket had to be reprinted to correct the error.  The name of “John Newton Chance” on one version is changed to “David C Newton” on the later version.

 

 

The 1952 third edition dust jacket.  Below the sticker, printed on the DJ it says “Price in the UK 6/-” but this 6 shilling jacket has been re-priced at 5 shillings.

The writing on the inner flap now has an extra paragraph added referring to Captain Johns and a list of all 20 Oxford Biggles books on the back of the jacket

 

 

This book is divided into two distinct parts. The first half of the book is a story that is in fact a rewrite of a previous story by W. E. Johns.  It had originally been called

 "NAZIS IN THE NEW FOREST"

and the heroes were Steeley and Tubby. This “Steeley” story had been published in 'The War Thriller' (number 586) on 27th April 1940. In 'Sinister Service', Steeley becomes Lance Lovell and Tubby becomes Lance's brother, Rodney Lovell. As to the second part of the story, it appears to be completely original but there has to be a possibility that it is a rewrite of another Johns story - either previously unpublished or published in a unknown periodical.

If anybody can shed any light on this, please let me know!

 

FORWARD BY RODNEY LOVELL

The forward, written in the first person, as is the entire book, tells us how Rodney Lovell came to be in the Secret Service (or, as some call it, the Sinister Service). He and his brother Lance, who is some three years older than Rodney, are the sons of a diplomat, and were born in Germany. They speak German as well as they speak English. They both also learned to fly. After the death of their father, they returned to England with their mother. Time passes and Rod is invited on a trip to the New Forest with his brother Lance. At this stage, Rod doesn't know his brother's occupation.

PART ONE

Lance and Rod are driving through the New Forest when they almost run over a woman who runs out in front of their car. Two men are chasing this woman, whose name is ascertained to be Julia Ashton-Harcourt. The two men are armed and dangerous. Taking Julia back to her house, Lance and Rod find out that she has suspicions about gliders silently landing in the night. On investigating her suspicions, Julia had then found herself being pursued by the two armed men. Lance's car is stolen and our heroes are forced to use Julia's car. On returning to Julia's empty cottage a bomb is discovered in her kitchen. The following day, investigations are carried out and Lance, Rod and Julia go to Garthstone Manor, where they are suspicious of Mr. Smith, the owner, particularly as he has been burning things in his back garden, such as glider parts. After a meal at a hotel, Julia returns home alone to get her belongings as she intends to move out. When she doesn't return, Lance and Rod return to her house to find her car on the drive. Julia has disappeared and our heroes fear that she has been kidnapped. Lance and Rod take the car and intend to go back to Garthstone Manor to look for Julia but they begin to feel sleepy. Lance realises just in time that an attempt is being made to try to gas them by turning the exhaust back into the car. After smashing the windscreen to get fresh air and then pretending to crash they are approached by a car containing two men. Lance and Rod overpower the men and find Julia tied up in the back of their car. Arrangements are made for a police raid on Garthstone Manor. Lance, Rod and Julia return to the Manor in advance of the raid and see a glider land and hear German being spoken. Here, in an addition to the original text, Lance, Rod and Julia get lost in a maze in the grounds and also meet the mysterious 'Hylda' - who turns out to be a chimpanzee. A shoot out occurs and the baddies escape in three cars. Lance and Rod manage to hijack a fourth car in order to pursue them. The chase leads to Conway in Wales where the Germans are planning to meet a waiting submarine. Lance has managed to organise naval support and the Navy arrives in time to ram the Germans' submarine causing it to sink. The day is saved but there is still to be a surprise in store for Julia.

PART TWO

Lance and Rod are sent by General Carteret to Germany to rescue a man called Doctor Luther Colburg. Colburg is a Czech inventor and a specialist in armour plating, who has been kidnapped. Parachuting into Germany, our two heroes head for Obendorf, on the Elbe. Stopping at a 'Bierhaus', Lance gets chatting with a man and persuades him to put them up for a few days. The man, Schmidt, has a son who is a fanatical Nazi. Learning that Colburg is being held in a college and that the Commandant of the college is expecting a visit from Bureau 17, Lance forms a plan. The next day, Lance and Rod travel to Hamburg and ring Commandant Wolff at the college to tell him of their proposed arrival and to have a car meet them at the station. This way, Lance and Rod are taken to the college and meet with the Commandant. They order him to bring Colburg to see them straight away. Dismissing the guards and knocking out the Commandant, Lance and Rod make a daring escape in the car belonging to the real visitors from Bureau 17, who have just arrived. Changing the car for a lorry, they make for Hamburg and the address of a secret agent that can help them. Here, they intend to hide up for a few days, until they can rendezvous with a plane that is due to meet them. Hidden in a secret room, things take a turn for the worse when the house is raided by the Germans and the occupiers are arrested (and killed). The Germans are not aware of the secret room, however. Lance and Rod have to shoot their way out of the house and they take Doctor Colburg with them. They set fire to the house so that the Germans cannot use it as a trap for unsuspecting agents. At a checkpoint, Lance sets fire to a load of straw piled high on a military lorry. This diversion enables our heroes to get through to the rendezvous. Hearing the baying of hounds, Lance realises that the Germans have got tracker dogs after them. There then follows a desperate shoot-out as our heroes wait for the aeroplane to come and pick them up. The pilot is wounded and Lance has to fly the plane home. Rod mans the rear guns to fight off enemy aircraft that try to stop them. Coming down in the North Sea, our heroes are rescued by a British patrol boat. Back in England, General Carteret enrols Rod as an active member of his staff.

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE INTERNAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THIS BOOK

 

Sinister Service

Subtitle - The adventures of Lance Lovell, counter-espionage officer, told by his brother and unofficial assistant, Rodney Lovell.

Publication Details - originally published by Oxford

 

 

First Edition

 

French Edition – note the removal of the Swastika

 

The design of the boards for the first edition.  Only the first edition had this design.  All reprints had plain boards.

 

Frontispiece

Only the first edition had a frontispiece.  Both the 1949 and the 1952 reprints omitted it.

Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it

 

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