AS PROMISED

Anthony Gilbert "Out for the kill"
For my first Anthony Gilbert book, this turned out to be a bit of a treat. I am seriously now going to be after more of the same. It started for me as a bit of a disappointment. I have never read any of the Mickey Spillane type of thriller before, but if I would have to imagine what the characters in those books would be like, then the first chapter of this book would not be out of place. Fortunately the Americanism's either dissipated or I became acclimatised to them. The humour was excellent, the menace was palpable, excitement and adventure was plentiful, and it also contained a surprise or two. Highly recommended. 8 out of 10.
The forward reads as such.
As Arthur Crook came home to Brandon Street he complained to himself that crime and murder were not what they used to be. He was wrong. At that very moment he was heading straight for a case which would call for every weapon in his armoury: deduction, quick thinking, guile and fast action. The rumbustious, red haired solicitor had his curiosity aroused by the odd circumstances of the death of the milliner's budgerigar. It was but a short step from there to wondering where the bird's owner had gone and, with Arthur Crook, to wonder means to run and find out. The more he found out about the quiet, retiring Miss Chisholm the more suspicious he became about what had happened to her, and why. There was no evidence for the police, at that stage. But there was quite enough for Arthur Crook to get into top gear and so give his army of admirers another fast moving story, told with a light touch and allied to a clever plot, which make Out For The Kill a vintage Anthony Gilbert.

Baseball update.
Fleckney flyers, 95 overall, 4 in the BJ div.
Nice 'n' sleazy, 304 overall, 11 in the BJ div.