Gilbert, Michael -- The Final Throw (1982)

B

An entertaining story about two undercover policemen (one a Welshman whom I saw, at least while a drunkard, as Norman from The Conquests of N.), infiltrating a crooked financier’s large organisation.  (Similar to the Mercer trio in The Man Who Hated Banks.)  Parts of the story are set on the continent, in France and Italy (Florence—scene of The Etruscan Net, and which Gilbert narrowly avoided destroying in WWII).  There’s a Buchanesque manhunt in Italy—compare to The Long Journey Home?  Good fun, but straightforward—no detection or mystery.

When is this set?  Apparently 1980s (age of “telephones and telexes and international press coverage”) but half the characters served in WWII!  (Time-warp even more notable in The Mathematics of Murder.)

Nick Fuller.