Fry Stephen. The Liar

Adri an Healey is magnificently unprepared for the long littleness of life; unprepared too for the afternoon in Salzburg when he will witness the savage murder of a Hungarian violinist ; unprepared to learn about the Mendax device; unprepared for more murders and wholly unprepared for the truth . Unprepared or not , Adrian is led through an adventure that takes in toast , Piccadilly rent boys, Charles Dickens's lost pornographic novel , an international espionage conspiracy, disgraceful scenes on the cricket field and a machine that compels its victims to tell the truth.