Derek Flower Ransomed

Baron Henri de Mortelart, head of a vast French international mining conglomerate, is kidnapped while holidaying in the South of France and a ransom of 10 million dollars is demanded for his release.

Arrangements are in hand to meet the terms and conditions imposed for the payment, but these are temporarily disrupted when Henri’s daughter Maxine is involved in a car crash, his mistress threatens to inform the press of his disappearance, and his brother Maurice develops a taste for power and throws a further spanner in the works to turn the situation to his advantage. When finally the way seems clear for the ransom to be paid, a forest fire devastates the property where Henri is being held, and his captors have to flee. But will Henri survive, or will he be left to be burnt alive with no one the wiser, and all traces of his captivity conveniently erased, as his kidnappers hope?

Who, though, was responsible in the first place for his kidnapping? Who, apart from his captors, was to benefit from it?

And what of the American socialite and his beautiful partner in crime who masterminded the operation? Will they collect and get away with the ransom money as planned?