Review - X for Extortion by Garrick Jones
X for Extortion: 14 Manchester Square
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Volume 2 of The Seventh of December
Posted in Book Reviews on December 7, 2025
Tommy returns to England after successfully concluding the secret mission to retrieve embarrassing letters and jewelry for the royal family. He also found a cache of photographs that were probably being used as blackmail material against other British aristocrats. Tommy and his team begin the delicate task of trying to identify the people in the pictures and who is behind the blackmail. The trail leads to an international crime ring with ties to Nazi Germany. But, the investigation isn’t the only thing on Tommy’s plate. The royals, out of gratitude for Tommy’s work that can never be publicly acknowledged, decide to promote his musical prowess with concerts around the country as well as abroad.
The adventures of Thomas Haupner, a multi-lingual Australian violin virtuoso working for military intelligence during World War II, continue in this sequel to The Seventh of December: The Czarina’s Necklace. This sequel builds on the characters and events of the first book, so you must have read the previous story before this one. Like the first book, there’s an episodic nature to this story, although it always comes back to the blackmail plot.
Once again, the narration is entirely from Tommy’s point of view. The man is a long way from the Australian sheep station where he grew up. He’s now in a position to consider a few members of the British royal family friends. His musical prowess gives the royals and the government a good excuse to award Tommy top honors, although the real reasons are his espionage exploits. The accolades don’t seem to go to Tommy’s head. If anything, he is humbled by them.
Tommy and his American lover Heinrich, who Tommy calls “Shorty”, have moved in together in a house on Manchester Square. It’s big enough for them to maintain the illusion that they’re just sharing accommodations, the way many men did during the war, although all their close friends know Tommy and Shorty are more than friends. While Shorty plays a big role in this book, it is George, the Duke of Kent, that plays the key role in orchestrating Tommy’s key position in the intelligence services as well as his public profile as a classical violinist.
“X for Extortion” is available from Smashwords or see Bookshop.org to get a print copy from your local independent book store.