Once again Robert Goddard has delivered an absolutely first-class entertainment. Closed Circle weaves a spellbinding tale of love, murder, and betrayal in a sordid world of money and deceit.The year is 1931. Guy Horton and Max Wingate are two confidence men on their way from America to England in search of their next scam. On board the Empress of Britain, they discover that they need not wait till they arrive; their next victim is one of the passengers, and one of the most beautiful women they've ever laid eyes on.Her name is Diana Charnwood, the daughter of the wealthy munitions dealer Fabian Charnwood, a legendary, somewhat reclusive millionaire. There's a trick they've performed before: Charm the daughter into an engagement to marry, then get her father to buy you off. Guy and Max make a pact: Whichever one wins Diana Charnwood's love will share his fortune with the other. But life is seldom so predictable. Who would imagine that Max would truly fall in love with Diana? And who would murder Fabian Charnwood the night Max and Diana plan to elope? When Max doesn't arrive at their designated meeting place, Guy goes looking for him, and finds Max running from the dead body of Fabian Charnwood. Did Max kill Charnwood in a fit of anger? Guy is convinced his friend is innocent, but can he prove it? Or has he stumbled into something far darker and deeper than he ever expected?From Britain to Venice to the Orient Express, the plot thickens and turns, then thickens and turns again. As Guy tracks down a conspiracy that reaches all the way back to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, he uncovers a scheme so massive in its duplicity, destructiveness, and bloodless hunger for profits that he finds within himself an integrity he never imagined he possessed.Closed Circle is a page-turner of devious twists with a labyrinthine plot that will keep you up all night, unable to sleep until the villains are unmasked and the hero is vindicated. Not since the masterpieces by Daphne du Maurier has suspense been written with the grace, erudition, and enormous control displayed in the novels of Robert Goddard. Read Less