After two books, Gregg and his Inspector Higgins are becoming firm favourites of mine. This British police procedural begins in a rainy field beside a walled house, where Higgins and Sergeant Brownlow are following a tip-off from an informant. A dog called Satan gives them some nasty moments, but is luckily distracted by some other visitors to the house - one of whom is soon found outside the wall with a broken neck. The informant follows; and Higgins and Brownlow find themselves with no leads to a murderous gang of thieves. Some fast thinking enables Higgins to put a spoke in their wheel, and eventually leads them to the brains behind the gang.
This is the best thing about Higgins: he thinks, and the reader can think along with him. Higgins doesn't sit in a study and make imaginative leaps; he faces small problems on the job, and puzzles them out as they occur. Why did the alarm for the gate not ring? Why did the dying victim refer to a Mystery Man? How did the reporter find out where the hideout was? Who turned the light on for the gang lieutenant? Everything is looked into; and bit by bit the gang is wound up and the answers are brought together into a satisfying whole. One puzzle remains: why is this prolific writer so unjustly forgotten?
Jon.
There is also a book with this title by the Radfords.
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