James Leasor cleverly reconstructs events surrounding a brutal and unusual murder. It is 1943 and Sir Harry Oakes lies horrifically murdered at his Bahamian mansion. Although a self-made multi-millionaire, Sir Harry is an unlikely victim there are no suggestions of jealousy or passion. Why did the Duke of Windsor, then Governor of the Bahamas call in the Miami police rather than Scotland Yard? Leasor makes the daring suggestion that Sir Harry Oakes murder, the burning of the liner Normandie in New York Harbour in 1942 and the Allied landings in Sicily are all somehow connected. 'The story has all the right ingredients - rich occupants of a West Indian tax haven, corruption, drugs, the Mafia, and a weak character as governor.' Daily Mail

In July 1943 the scorched and bloody body of multi-millionaire businessman, Sir Harry Oakes, was found in a partly burned bed in his home in the Bahamas. He had died of wounds to the head caused by a weapon never found or clearly identified. Four small, identical holes in a pattern almost square had penetrated the mastoid bone above his left ear. Within forty-eight hours, after the most cursory of investigations, Oakes' son-in-law, Alfred de Marigny, was arrested and charged with the murder. The trial lasted thirty-two days. Once it was over, even though de Marigny was acquitted, his life lay in ruins. The authorities in Nassau had advised all British and friendly territories that de Marigny was to be regarded as a murderer at large, and it was four years before he could get a visa to enter the United States, where he finally made his home. Now, for the first time, de Marigny tells his own story, revealing what really happened in the Bahamas in July 1943 and in the months that followed. Even as war engulfed the globe, Nassau was a magnet for society's rich and spoiled, presided over by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It is against this extraordinary background of wealth and privilege that the story unfolds, a complex tale of business intrigue, broken promises and acts of betrayal; of currency smuggling and conduct close to treason, and of one man's untiring efforts to clear his name.

When news of Sir Harry Oakes' murder broke to the world on the morning of July, 8, 1943, one man was more concerned than most. He was the Duke of Windsor, then Governor of the British colony, whose job it was to ensure that the killer was caught and brought to justice. Although many believe the duke was a bungler, "Blood and Fire" points to evidence that he was a plotter with something to hide.

A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of the Year In this “engrossing must-read” by “Canada’s most accomplished popular historian” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine), the glittering life and brutal murder of Sir Harry Oakes is newly investigated. Murdered Midas is “superior true-crime writing” (The Globe and Mail). On an island paradise in 1943, Sir Harry Oakes, gold-mining tycoon, philanthropist and one of the richest men in the British Empire, is murdered. The news of his death surges across the English-speaking world, from London, the Imperial centre, to the remote Canadian mining town of Kirkland Lake in the Northern Ontario bush. The murder becomes celebrated as the crime of the century. The layers of mystery deepen as the involvement of Count Alfred de Marigny, Oakes’s son-in-law, comes into question. Also suspicious are the odd machinations of the governor of the Bahamas, the former King Edward VIII. But despite a sensational trial, no murderer is convicted. Rumours about Oakes’s missing fortune are unrelenting, and fascination with the story has persisted for decades. Award-winning biographer and popular historian Charlotte Gray explores the life of the man behind the scandal—from his early, hardscrabble days during the massive mineral rush in Northern Ontario, to the fabulous fortune he reaped from his own gold mine, to his grandiose gestures of philanthropy. And Gray brings fresh eyes to the bungled investigation and shocking trial on the remote colonial island, proposing an overlooked suspect in this long cold case. Murdered Midas is the story of the man behind the newspaper headlines, a man both admired and reviled who, despite great wealth and public standing, never experienced justice.

This is the story of the notorious, unsolved murder of the richest baronet in the British Empire, Sir Harry Oakes. The millionaire miner made his fortune from the rich mines in Northern Ontario. His wealth and lifestyle gave many a motive for murder. Rumours surrounding the murder case as well as prime details about the three suspects (including his close friend and business associate, and the son-in-law who eloped with his daughter), dirt on the mishandled investigation and events during the trial will keep you on the edge of your seat.