I am greatly indebted to all those who have assisted me at the various stages of this project.
In particular, my thanks go to the Melville family, both in Ireland and New Zealand, and to HM Government. As a result of an approach to the Cabinet Office, the Government agreed to provide me with a briefing based on the records of William Melville’s service with the War Office for the purpose of this book. I am equally indebted to Lindsay Clutterbuck, Steve Earl, Tom Oakley and John Ross of the London Metropolitan Police for their assistance with New Scotland Yard records and archival material.
I am also grateful to the following individuals who have helped me at various stages of my research: Michel Ameuw (France), Dr Michael Attias (UK), Jordan Auslander (USA), Dmitri Belanovskii (Russia), Marc Bernstein (USA), Jackie and Teresa Cahill (Kenmare), Dan Downing (Sneem Parish News), John Fitzpatrick (Sneem), Michael Gasson (BP Archive), David Humphries (PRO), Rajesh Kalyan (UK), Carol Leadenham (Hoover Institution, Stanford, California), Ken Linge (DABS Forensic Ltd), Aisling Lockhart (Trinity College, Dublin), Dr Sylvia Moehle (Germany), Danny Moriarty (Kenmare), Mary Morrigan (Dublin), Father Patrick Murphy (Parish Priest, Sneem), Stephen Parker (UK), Elizabeth Parkes (New Zealand), Joanna Quill (National Army Museum), Caroline Quirke (Assistant Registrar, Killarney), Rachel Sampson (BP Archive), Laura Scannell (Bar Council Archive), Graham Salt (UK) and Mark Tami MP.
I would like to thank those who have previously written on this and related subject matters for speaking or corresponding with me – Professor Christopher Andrew (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge), Gill Bennett (Chief Foreign Office Historian), Christy Campbell, Dr Nicholas Hiley (University of Kent), Alan Judd, Nick McCarty and Tom Wood.
The help and co-operation of the families of those who played a role in Melville’s story has been greatly appreciated, as has the assistance of Francis & Francis (private and commercial investigators) who helped in tracing them.
A special thank you also goes to Caroline Beach, Sophie Bradshaw, Jo De Vries, Elaine Enstone, Monica Finch, Ingrid Lock, Carolyn Jardine, Patrick Ooi, Janie New, Hannah Renier, Bob Sheth and Chris Williamson for their hard work at various stages of this project. Also to RP Translate Ltd for their sterling work in translating source material from Russian, German and French into English and to my publisher Jonathan Reeve for his support and advice.