CHAPTER ONE: Excerpted from HEIRLINE by Thomas Knight
On Chapter by Chapter Now
I’m proud to be the editor of this superb historical mystery thriller by first-time author Thomas Knight. Having read Heirline at least four times, I can say without hesitation that it’s a genuinely riveting page-turner—one of those rare novels that pulls you in and refuses to let go.
Set in 1992, the story opens in Boston, where Alison Palmer, a 28-year-old Executive Assistant to the Mayor, ends her week with a simple Friday-night drink with her girlfriends. But the ordinary dissolves the moment she returns home and discovers a letter waiting in her mail—a quiet catalyst that will upend her life.
What follows is a storm-lashed journey north to Landon Hall in Lake of Bays, Canada, where Alison’s formidable Great-Aunt Gertrude Perdue lives in a sprawling heritage manor with her Scottish housekeeper, Lillian Thompson, and a menacing Siamese cat. Gertrude presents Alison with a letter from her long-lost brother, a soldier who fought at Passchendaele, along with an unusually shaped key stamped DEUTSCHLAND on one side and DB315 on the other. From that moment on, Alison is propelled into a quest that reaches across oceans and eras, taking her from Germany to England and deeper into a mystery she never asked for, yet cannot walk away from.
On her flight to London, Alison encounters Sir Robert Barrington, a former Chief of the Air Staff in the Royal Air Force and now an accomplished bureaucrat at Whitehall. He becomes her sharpest ally and anchor as the shadows around her tighten.
Knight has crafted a thoroughly compelling heroine in Alison Palmer—resourceful, intelligent, and steadfast even when the world tilts beneath her feet. His research into World War I and its key figures adds rich historical depth. At the same time, his confident handling of intricate topics—non-dilutable bearer share certificates, motorcycle clubs, and international finance—grounds the novel in a striking realism. He also weaves in a wicked early red herring featuring a character so loathsome you can’t help but recoil.
The story races from the back streets of Chicago to the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, from Anglo-Burma Petroleum’s London headquarters to the charged streets of Belfast. Every setting feels lived-in, every character purposeful. As Alison is drawn into the murky worlds of corporate espionage, international conspiracy, and financial intrigue, the stakes sharpen into a fight not just for truth—but for her life.
******
Landon Hall
Lake of Bays, Canada
IT WAS A DARK, FOUL, wintry Friday, January 24, 1992. The wet wind riding in on the leading edge of the front made it rotten cold. Drizzle turned to fat, sloppy globules that splattered the windshield, then to flurries as Alison headed further north. The droning rhythm of the road had a hypnotic effect and lulled her into daydreaming of it—whatever “it” was—could all be about.
Alison shifted in the driver’s seat, leaned forward, worked the knot out from between her shoulders, and settled back more comfortably, feeling the fatigue of the long trip wash over her. She was alone, driving the last leg of a journey prompted by the letter she had received two weeks before. “Please come as soon as you are able, Alison,” the note had directed. “I need to see you as soon as possible regarding an important family matter.”
Alison telephoned to try and find out why Great-Aunt Gertrude wanted to see her, but with the coy old fox feigning deafness and repeatedly saying, “When? When are you coming to see me, dear?” she resigned herself to the fact of travelling and gave her the date of her arrival.
Suddenly, Alison sensed something seemed different, almost imperceptible, but different. A subtle change, as if the car was running better somehow.
Refocusing while becoming alert, she took in the roadway and, in turn, looked into the rearview and sideview mirrors; everything seemed OK. She quickly scanned the dashboard gauges; everything appeared to be normal. After a long moment, with apparently nothing untoward, Alison began to relax again.
Outside, the temperature dropped and the headwind died, while a brooding mountain range of towering thunderheads boiled and churned its way rapidly toward her.
Alison stared blankly ahead as she glided through the dead calm, responding automatically to the gently changing way and bevel of the road, drifting back to wondering again about the reason for her visit. An important family matter, she mused. What in the world has the old gal got going, she asked herself, the itch of the enigma becoming an ache. Alison coasted through the still air, then slowly accelerated as the leading edge of the storm front drew in more draft from below, pulling her toward the insatiable development of its vertical sheer. The instant Alison realized she was being drawn forward at uncontrolled speed, the savage fury of the weather bomb hit and detonated around her, and the car momentarily left the ground.
Hurricane-force winds backed, veered, and backed again, buffeting the car, while serpentines of drifting snow slithered erratically across the quickly blanketing highway.
Shaken out of her reverie, Alison stiffened and slowed, fighting the wheel, eyes searching, straining to see within the flood of her headlights as the tempest stormed out of the darkness, hurling itself toward and around her.
******
Thomas Knight was born and raised as an inner-city kid in downtown Toronto. Coupled with a career in international sales, travelling to the US, the UK, Europe, and South Africa, Thomas brings an extraordinary range of insight to his work and a glimpse into previously closed realms. Thomas is married and lives with his wife in Kingston, Ontario.
Read Chapter One: excerpted from Heirline by Thomas Knight here 👇
https://www.chapterbychapter.ca/blog/chapter-one-of-heirline