British Library Crime Classics
ISBN 978-0-7123-5745-6
Also available as an ebook
Detective Inspector Patrick Aloysius McCarthy is handed the
job of solving an apparent murder--with a disappearing body--which occurred in
Soho Square. McCarthy and a young
constable both hear a scream--after midnight, and in the blackout conditions of
wartime London. McCarthy, born and
raised and still living in Soho, knows the byways, the good, and the bad of the
quarter, knowledge that he puts to good use.
However, he is ialmost immediately called away to investigate the theft
of war plans (at the Foreign Office's HQ in Whitehall) from a locked safe in a
locked room, with only about 30 minutes for the theft to have been
accomplished. (Now, how an unauthorized
stranger managed to get into the building and remain unobserved even for that
long is unexplained.)
Coincidences
abound (Surprise! The murder and the
theft are linked!), and McCarthy seems impervious to pain (and possible
concussion), and a satisfactory time is had by all (and a satisfactory
conclusion reached). Not by any means a
great--or even much above average--book, but not a chore to read either. I'm not recommending that you seek it out, however.
No comments:
Post a Comment