Never published in paperback, and back in print for the first time since 1950, Back Room Girl was the first original novel by Francis Durbridge. Retiring to No Man’s Cove in Cornwall to write his memoirs, crime reporter Roy Benton discovers that a disused tin mine has become a research station for a secret weapons project. Karen Silvers, in charge of operations, reluctantly accepts that Benton’s experience could help her fight a sinister organisation intent on stealing their plans. Having adapted five of his Paul Temple radio serials into successful novelisations, in 1950 Francis Durbridge decided to try his hand at writing his first original novel. Back Room Girl bore all the hallmarks of the famous Paul Temple stories, an outlandish mixture of mystery, glamour and suspense, in a book that was never reprinted and so became an enigma to his many fans – until now. Includes an introduction by bibliographer Melvyn Barnes plus two rare short stories written for Christmas annuals: LIGHT-FINGERS and A PRESENT FROM PAUL TEMPLE.