The Gun-makers Gift by Mathew Plampin

Of all the worlds arms manufacturers Colonel Samuel Colt must be one of the most iconic. It was his factory in Hartford Connecticut that made the famous "Peacemaker" revolvers, "the gun that won the West" and many other places beside. What very few people know is that the Colonel attempted to open a factory in London for the manufacture of the "Navy" revolver, the gun used by Clint Eastwood in the film "The outlaw Josey Wales". Around this short-lived enterprise Mr Plampin has woven a fascinating tale whose leading character, Edward Lawry, is hired by Colt to be his London Secretary. Lawry becomes romanticaly involved with a young woman in the factory and through her is dragged into the plots of a gang of Irishmen whose ambition is to steal enough of these technicaly advanced weapons to enable them to carry out an assassination. A very good book.