THE first two novels in Robert Ryan's Second World War Morning, Noon and Night trilogy have captured the true events of the period, transforming real stories and characters into mesmerising fiction.

Night Crossing is the third book in the series and reveals the harsh realities of life on all sides of the conflict.

When Inspector Cameron Ross is sent to Berlin in 1938 to investigate a fatal mugging, he meets young musician Ulrike Walter. With the outbreak of conflict, Ross is the only person who can help Ulrike and her father escape the terrors of Nazi Germany, but in these chaotic times Ulrike is unable to track down Ross or her fiance, Erich, who is posted to the U-boats.

In the confusion of early wartime events, it seems unlikely that an intelligence officer in the British Army, a German submariner and an internee will ever cross paths again, but their fates become dramatically entwined.

Many of the events that Robert Ryan uses in the book are based on real-life characters and incidents in the Second World War.

Night Crossing by Robert Ryan (Headline, £16.99).