Crime really does pay when it comes to the hugely successful novels of leading genre exponent Jake Arnott.

Having reinvigorated a flagging thriller market with best-selling books such as The Long Firm, He Kills Coppers and True Crime, it was somewhat surprising to discover Arnott has finally extracted himself from the gritty reality of his hometown London manor to the less familiar territory of southern California, USA, with a much more expansive and ambitious tome.

As the Second World War hangs in the balance, the lines between imagination and reality are starting to blur. The House of Rumour is a novel of soaring ambition, encompassing spymasters, infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, a Nazi war criminal in the shape of Rudolf Hess and a certain MI6 agent and author, one Ian Fleming, he of James Bond fame.

It’s a fascinating marriage between fact and fiction, that attempts to shed new light on key episodes from the past century.

Speaking at Ilkley Playhouse’s Wharfeside theatre on Sunday, Arnott said: “It’s a big and complicated novel, but I hope that doesn’t put people off.

“There are 22 sections based on Tarot cards, but they are all interlinked and interwoven. They do come together ... I promise!”

Born of the ‘peculiar rumour’ Fleming was involved in Operation Mistletoe, an international plan to lure said top-ranked Nazi into a trap using occult knowledge, the element of truth contained within this book is extrapolated to take the reader on a mind-expanding journey.

Arnott added: “I like the idea of being able to move around in space and time.

“The wonderful thing about writing is you can make fiction appear to be fact. I like this feeling of uncertainty.

“But never let reality get in the way of imagination. If you can’t make it up, it’s not worth writing about. A novel is always an idea on the brink of failure, which is very exciting.”