Blood was the fertiliser that made the African soil bloom...

From under the shadow of the Mountains of the Moon and the deep, brooding Forests of the Tall Trees, to the hidden opulence of Taiwan and the panelled boardrooms of power in the heart of London, a tough, determined man and a dedicated woman begin their fight against the forces of greed, evil and corruption...

It is the dawn of the Eighteenth Century. At the farthest edges of the known world, the mighty East India Trading Company suffers catastrophic losses from pirates on the high seas. After four years away from service, master mariner Sir Hal Courtney prepares for his latest and most dangerous voyage – a death or glory mission in the name of Empire and the crown.

Young David Morgan, gifted heir apparent to a South African fortune, rebels against the boardroom future mapped out for him with sickening predictability by his family. Drawn to the sky as though to his natural element, he trains to become a brilliant jet pilot and, fleeing from his home and all it stands for, sets out to make his own life.

This scheme has flair! This scheme is Napoleonic!' roars Flynn Patrick O'Flynn, with characteristic enthusiasm. The year is 1912. The place East Africa. The action – ivory-poaching deep in the German-occupied delta of the steaming Rufiji river.

But Flynn, elephant-hunter and hounder of Germans, likes to enjoy the spoils of his sport without too much effort and the arrival of rich young Sebastian Oldsmith is a windfall he cannot resist.

Before he can gather his fuddled wits, Sebastian is plunged not merely into an ivory-hunt but a murderous game of hide-and-seek with Flynn's outraged and much-taunted enemy, the gross, sausage-eating German Commissioner, Herman Fleischer.

A hazy aerial photograph and a sinister curse – known only to the Africans – and Dr Benjamin Kazin stumbles on the archaeological discovery of a lifetime...

For nearly two thousand years, a brilliant and unknown ancient civilisation has remained buried in southern Africa. Now at last the red cliffs of
Botswana seem about to yield their secret.

Under the lavish patronage of his old friend and mentor Lauren Sturvesant, head of one of the richest companies in the world, Ben and his green-eyed assistant Sally grope towards the mystery of the lost people.