A Foreign Field — Margaret Mayhew

1940's England. The Battle of Britain. And the present day
Once a hardened reporter on a Fleet Street newspaper, Frank Carter's battle with alcohol cost him his job, and his adored wife Jan. Now making a meagre living writing up weddings and local council meetings for the Milton Weekly Courier, and living a lonely bedsit existence, Carter needs to sniff out a newsworthy story if he is to keep his job.
His curiosity is aroused by rumours of a buried World War II Spitfire in a wood near the idyllic Sussex village of Fairfield. Despite bitter opposition from the local squire and sceptical villagers, Carter decides to investigate not least because he hopes this will enable him to see more of Sir Philip Dalrymple's lovely young wife. In this enthralling romance-cum-detective story, Carter's enquiries take him back into the recent, never-to-be-forgotten past, to 1940s England, when the Battle of Britain was raging in the skies . . .