Danger of Defeat (Home Front Detective)
The tenth in the Home Front Detective series, this story is set in London in 1918. Inspector Harvey Marmion is called to attend a robbery at a jewellery shop. Violence erupts, a police constable is shot dead, and Sergeant Joe Keedy is seriously injured. As Marmion’s daughter, Alice, is engaged to the injured sergeant, her father has both a professional and a personal motive to see the murderous robbers brought to justice. With his fellow officers he pursues the thieves, taking the reader delving into unexpected parts of London both past and present and even to places where green fields predominate.
The plot is constructed with the precision of a Swiss watch, and it ticks along at a brisk pace. Tension is built and crises are resolved, theories are developed and abandoned. The horrors of the First World War make their presence felt but are not allowed to dominate the murder investigation. The author contrives to give the impression that the characters, unlike the readers, are unaware that the war is coming to an end. I have tried to find fault with one of the historical details sprinkled judiciously among the action and failed.
There is drama and emotion, but the characters do not wallow in it. When Keedy’s injury interferes with her wedding plans, the practical Alice decides to use the time to wallpaper their new home. There is a strong cast of interesting minor characters. Sergeant Keedy’s brother spreads alarm among the patients when he makes a brief appearance at the hospital. He is wearing his working clothes of a black suit and brandishing a black top hat; he is an undertaker. Danger of Defeat is written in good clear English, the kind of language a sergeant might use to brief a constable on a mission. The author’s fans will not be disappointed.
