''Windfall'' is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

written by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author

Desmond Bagley Desmond Bagley (29 October 1923 – 12 April 1983) was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: ...

, and was first published in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. It was the last of his works to be published within his lifetime. This novel is one of the few times Desmond Bagley reintroduces a prior protagonist - Max Stafford - in a second novel.

Plot introduction

This is a novel about the source of a mysterious 40 million pound legacy. The main benefactor of Jan Willem Hendryk's legacy was 34 million to a small agricultural college in the remote

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, with the remaining six million to be split between his only known descendants. One descendant is the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n Dirk Hendricks, the new husband of security consultant Max Stafford's friend Alix. The other is the recently discovered Henry Hendrix, a young

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

beach bum, who is tracked down by down-on-his-luck private detective Ben Hardin. However, a strange series of events involving the attempted murder of Henry Hendrix, and a stranger masquerading as Henry in England lead Hardin to seek help from Stafford. Stafford, for his own reasons, is interested in this mysterious windfall, and the strange clause in the will stating that the heirs must spend one month of every year in Kenya. Suspicious that the man claiming to be Henry Hendrix is an imposter and that the college is not what it seems leads Max Stafford to visit Kenya. The violent reaction to his arrival in Kenya points to a sinister and far-reaching conspiracy far beyond mere greed.

External links

Crime Time review of Desmond Bagley
1982 British novels Novels by Desmond Bagley Novels set in Kenya William Collins, Sons books {{1980s-thriller-novel-stub