Scorpius by Mr John Gardner

Scorpius by Mr John Gardner

Special Branch is not usually interested in dead bodies found floating in the Thames, except when the corpse is a young girl with an impeccable background; then they become very interested indeed. So interested that they call on the legendary M, head of Secret Service.

In turn M sends for Commander James Bond, who finds himself caught up in an unusual mixture of intrigue and mayhem involving a strange, but deadly, quasi-religious sect known as the Society of the Meek Ones; their leader is the soft-spoken Father Valentine, who has links with the shadowy Vladimir Scorpius, nicknamed 'The King of Terror' because he is the largest arms dealer to various terrorist factions worldwide.

Naturally, with evil comes the good --the society girl, the Honorable Trilby Shrivenham, and an American undercover agent, the gorgeous Harriet Horner. Good girls? Only time will tell.

John Fentress Gardner (1912-1998) was a lecturer and writer on education, spirituality, and America. After studies at Teachers' College, Columbia University, he became faculty chair at the Waldorf school in Garden City, New York. He directed the Waldorf Institute for Liberal Education in conjunction with Adelphi University and was founding chair of the Council for Educational Freedom in America, director of the Waldorf Institute for Liberal Education, and chair of the Myrin Institute for Adult Education in New York City.