The Devil's Moon

  He looked at the ring on his finger. He hardly ever wore it. He’d put it on today on a whim. It was among the stuff Crowley had bequeathed to Ian Fleming in 1947. Fleming had passed it on to his friend. It had been in his cufflinks box most of the time since. It looked like brass but he’d never bothered to check.

  Avril was staring straight ahead when he leaned into the car and said, ‘It will take more than the AA to sort this out.’

  They both burst out laughing.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I am grateful to Diana Souhami, author of Gluck: her biography (Pandora) for advice about Gluck’s The Devil’s Altar. My characters’ views on Gluck do not, of course, reflect hers. The painting is in Brighton’s Museum and Art Gallery, where the security system is far more robust than I suggest, as it is in the Jubilee Library (which does not possess a copy of the Key of Solomon).

  The Lewes Archaeological Museum does not possess anything belonging to John Dee. The British Museum does have some of John Dee’s magical paraphernalia on display in its wonderful Enlightenment Room (Room One). The Museum of Jurassic Technology really exists in Los Angeles and contains all but the photographs as exhibits. It has no plans to open a branch in Brighton so I created a facsimile.

  I have invented all employees of Brighton police, Brighton Museums, the Royal Pavilion, the Jubilee Library, Lewes Archaeological Museum and the British Museum. No character is based in any way on any real employee of those institutions. Ditto Saddlescombe’s tenants.

  The curious history of Edward II’s shielding of the Knights Templar in Britain is true, although Saddlescombe’s part in this history is my invention.

  Aleister Crowley’s involvement with Ian Fleming during World War II is based on anecdotal evidence, although the rituals are said to have taken place in Ashdown Forest not Saddlescombe.

  Birds, fish and other creatures fall from the sky in large numbers more often than you might think . . .

  Peter Guttridge, 2013