Death in Captivity (1952)
Blurb:
My review:
Gilbert’s extraordinary versatility is shown in this gripping detective story set in an Italian POW camp, similar to the one in which Gilbert himself had been imprisoned, and whose atmosphere and daily activities (amateur theatricals, exercise and sports matches, Gestapo tortures and attempted escapes) he memorably depicts. The death in captivity is that of a Greek suspected of being a Nazi informant, found suffocated in a tunnel—and it soon becomes clear that the Carabinieri officer, Captain Benucci, was involved in the crime, and that there is a German Intelligence Officer in the camp. Due to these circumstances, the detection is highly unusual, for neither the officials nor the British themselves can be trusted. There is a nice touch of misdirection in the form of a microphone, but the murderer’s identity is not surprising. With its wartime tension and puzzle, the book is “like trying to finish a crossword puzzle in a train going headlong towards a crash.”