Red in the Morning


Red in the Morning is a 1946 adventure novel by the English author Dornford Yates, the seventh in his 'Chandos' thriller series. The events of the story immediately follow those of his 1939 novel Gale Warning in which Chandos and Mansel appear as characters.

The book was published in the US under the title Were Death Denied.

Plot

The novel is largely set in the countryside around Pau, in Southern France. Chandos and Mansel interfere with a gang robbery at Biarritz, and are hunted down with murderous intent by the gang's leader.

Background

Red in the Morning was written rapidly by Mercer, who needed at this stage in his life to ensure he remained in the ranks of best-selling authors. Much of his private fortune was tied up in his house "Cockade", south of Pau and it was becoming increasingly likely that he and his wife would be unable to live there after the war.

Critical reception

Although the war meant that the book could not be printed in the same quantities as previous books, it was still highly successful for the time. It shows no signs of having been written rapidly, and many followers of Mercer consider it to be one of his best.