CLASSIC CRIME
THE SINKING ADMIRAL by The Detection Club, edited by Simon Brett (Harper £14.99)
How many authors does it take to produce a mystery novel? one, possibly two? But what about 14 — the number credited with The Sinking Admiral, a collaborative effort by that elite body of crime writers who comprise The Detection Club.
The admiral of the title doubles as the name of a pub and of its owner, a not-so-loveable rogue who is found dead in his waterlogged boat. His barmaid and right hand in the business fastens on to the case along with a muck-raking TV journalist and two plodders from the local constabulary.
It is all great fun with a bonus for the reader in trying to identify which author does what to move the story along.
If there is a downside, it is a plot that is over-burdened with creative input. You can have too much of a good thing.
THE LIGHT OF DAY by Eric Ambler (British Library £8.99)
ARTHuR SImPSon is not to be trusted. Ingratiating and grasping, this podgy, sweaty chancer — ‘British to the core’, as he says but lacking a passport to prove it — lives hand-to-mouth as a tourist guide in Athens. But his luck runs out when he is caught stealing travellers’ cheques.
Instead of calling the police, his intended victim blackmails him into smuggling a cache of arms across the Turkish border.
Caught again, he is at the mercy of the secret police who use him as a double agent to unravel a plot high on ingenuity and tension.
But there is more here than a hard-paced thriller. Simpson may be a repellent character but such are the twists in the chain that we find ourselves willing him to triumph over adversity.
After half a century, eric Ambler holds his place in the upper ranks of suspense.
WHO PAYS THE PIPER? by Patricia Wentworth (Dean Street Press £9.99)
PATRICIA WENTWORTH is best known for her miss Silver, a spinster sleuth who rivals miss marple for her acute observations on human foibles.
But there is more to this author than a single character — though you could be forgiven for not knowing, since nearly all the nonmiss Silver titles have long been out of print. until now.
who Pays The Piper? centres on a nasty piece of work who determines to marry a girl who has already rejected him in favour of his rival.
To get his way, he resorts to blackmail, setting up her vulnerable sister on a false charge of theft.
when he is dispatched by his own gun, it would seem to be a blessing in disguise, until the police close in on the two obvious suspects, the girl and her fiance.
How they escape the trap makes for a suspenseful and thoroughly enjoyable read.