It is 1978. Corrado Dusa is head of Italy's Christian Democrat Party and the country's Senior Minister. He is also considered to be the key figure in resolving the crisis of dissent and violence that permeates political life. But Dusa has been kidnapped and now his son, Bernardo, a member of a militant extremist group, has disappeared. The press is aghast while the family sense disaster. Can Dusa's release be negotiated? Under what conditions? And - most importantly - with what results? First published in 1981 (The Bodley Head Press) Massie's stylish and enthralling thriller won a Scottish Arts Council Award: exploring America's influence on Europe and the causes of terrorism, The Death of Men is sure to have an arresting affect on readers today.

"A complex novel of ideas which is also an excellent piece of dramatic writing" New Statesman; "Compulsive readability" Scotsman; "One can only applaud Massie as perhaps the finest of living Scottish novelists" Encounter"

Allan Massie was born in Singapore in 1938, brought up in Aberdeenshire and educated in Glenalmond and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read History. He has written more than twenty books including a series of historical novels set in ancient Rome. He lives in the Scottish Borders with his wife and three children.