Fire Below


Fire Below is a 1930 adventure novel by the English author Dornford Yates, the fourth in his Chandos thriller series and a sequel to Blood Royal. The book was published in the US under the title By Royal Command.

Plot

Chandos and Hanbury are lured back to the fictional Principality of Riechtenburg by a forged telegram.

Background

In this novel, the author continued to mine ideas from Anthony Hope, specifically Rupert of Hentzau. Commenting in 1958 through his character Boy Pleydell, Mercer acknowledged resemblances between his work and that of Hope, particularly mentioning Fire Below and Blood Royal.

Critical reception

The Chandos series had made the name of Dornford Yates widely known, and Fire Below was as received as eagerly when it appeared in June 1930 as his earlier Chandos books had been.
The original dustjacket included the following quotes -