The Reflecting Man - Volume Four

By DKR Boyd

England is in turmoil as ‘Appeasers’ square off against ‘Non-Appeasers’ or, as our loquacious and unreliable narrator, Kurtis De’ath, in his role as Lord Beaverbrook’s gossip-hound, Kurtis Tod, discovers…it is Sir Joseph Ball versus Winston Churchill. Fascism is in fashion in numerous high-stepping London social circles and also across the water in France, where the Duke of Windsor and Wallis are courted by the Nazis. Erl Echland cotinues to collect their secrets, but even he is gobsmacked by the Duke’s secret letters which wind up in Kurtis’ hands. It is ‘Herr Death,’ Kurtis’ German incognito, who learns of the formation of Einsatzgruppen and new plots against Adolf Hitler involving the Kordt brothers. Not to be excluded in this raucous time are William Joyce and his mentor, Macnab; as well as Maxwell Knight of MI5’s B5b bureau and his menagerie; and Robert Vansittart, England’s spy extraordinaire. As 1938 wears on, the possibility of war increases steadily and Chamberlain and Ball conceive Plan Z, an attempt to beard the lion in his mountain lair at Berchtesgaden. Ulrich Roller and the Wagners continue to enjoy Uncle Wolf’s patronage as Kurtis’ nemesis, the widow of Dr. Wentz, appears seeking vengeance. It is Kristallnacht which shocks the world in November and brings Europe ever closer to total war.

Set in multiple locales in Canada, America, France, Germany, and England, before and during the Second World War, Volume Four of The Reflecting Man is the antic, ribald journey of a loquacious and unreliable narrator, Kurtis De’ath, from the Maritimes in Canada, whose unusual talents lead him into the innermost circles of Hitler’s Third Reich and Churchill’s British government. Kurtis’ journey through the roots and branches of actual historical figures and events is, at its heart, in meticulous detail, an examination of how Europe went to war in 1939. The Reflecting Man is himself a reflection of his times. The novel is widely and deeply researched, employing hundreds of non-fiction accounts, journals, and diaries of actual participants and observers of the darkening clouds over Europe and the descent into war.