The End of the Chase

the long version

>>*Herr Berndt leant forward in his chair. "Have you ever noticed how if one speaks about a thing, one usually hears about it again within a few days?"* >Christopher Perrin, investigator, is on the track of Douglas Pike, a.k.a. Duggie the Locksmith, suspected of being behind a major robbery. When he is caught in Belgium, Perrin is astonished and puzzled to see in the crowd a certain Maurus Kaulin, “one of the most skilful forgers in existence," whose path Perrin has crossed before. >Pike confesses to the robbery, but his journey to Belgium remains unexplained. Perrin, with the help of his old friend, Johann Berndt, formerly Vienna's chief of police, starts to trace what looks suspiciously like an international criminal network. An alluring Hungarian countess, an influential financier and a young English woman become swept up in Perrin's remorseless hunt for the truth, which takes him across Europe before discovering the key to the mystery lies closer to home. Two will die, and Christopher Perrin will risk his life - and his heart. *The End of the Chase* was originally published in 1932.