A NEW MYSTERY PARCEL

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32352, 18 July 1970, Page 4

A NEW MYSTERY PARCEL

Cold Water. By P. M. Hubbard. Bles. 224 pp. Tired of his wife, of his suburban home at Ashwood, near London, and of being a dogsbody in his firm, Giffard did not hesitate to accept a job as a caretaker on the remote island of Carney, from the owner, Mr Callender. Without waving any farewells, he went there and left his wife and former associates to wonder what had become of him. There is not much suggestion in the book that they wondered greatly. As for Giffard, he enjoyed shedding his former responsibilities, and enjoyed more the excellent little boats in his care, and his comfortable cottage. He had not been there long, however, when he felt himself to be a prisoner, although there was no discernible bonds. His predecessor, Mackie, had left no traces .of himself, and seemed to be a man-who-never-was. Questions about him, put to Mr and Mrs Callender, or to the housemaid, Carrie, or to George, a mechanic who looked after the power-house, were met with evasion and a sense of unexpressed threat. Gradually Giffard’s pleasure in his new life turns to unease, and then to downright fear, all too well justified when the story reaches a chillingly horrid climax. Mr Hubbard can tell a convincing story and a frightening one, and do it very well.

The Candywine Development. By John Morris. Collins. 287 pp.

Candywine is a desolate island in the West Indies and is a place where there is about to be considerable development in order to attract tourists. There is a hint that Mafia money may be invested in straightforward business ways. Commissioner McKay of the Jamaican police

does not care for this, and cares much less when it seems possible that the island will be used as a place where a hi-jacked bomber will hand over to a Chinese submarine a couple of atom bombs. Such a transaction, if successful, would be profitable; the Mafia are interested, and so, naturally enough, are the Chinese; the Russians oppose the project and take steps to see that it is unsuccessful, the C.I.A. is concerned about it, and several private persons seek profit quite apart from any ideological motives. Police Commissioner McKay and his wife, Helen,, are a formidable and likeable pair of law-enforcers, and with Jassy Vane and Peter Blackmore as unofficial helpers, they use unorthodox and often quite violent methods to foil the unrighteous. Several people are killed and many others get damaged before all is straightened out, as much as can be, in a blaze of fireworks at the end. The 100,000 Welcomes. By Michael Kehyon. Collins Crime Club. 190 pp.

Once upon a time there were three brothers McQuaid. There was Finn, who lived in Dublin when be was not in gaol; there was Mickey who emigrated to America, stole all the takings of a Las Vegas gambling saloon and returned swiftly to Ireland for sanctuary bringing with him, unwisely as it turned out, a blonde dancing girl; and there was Conn, the eldest wbo became a priest. When Mickey arrived, Finn enlisted him in an enterprise —the stealing of St Patrick’s Cross from the Reck of Cashel and holding the. Irish Government to ransom for its safe return. With the aid of an hilarious group of Irish strong-arm men, they steal the cross, and then their

troubles begin. The ransom is not forthcoming, and the police (the Garda) move swiftly towards their apprehension; the owners of the Las Vegas gambling den, hellbent on retribution and restitution, come to Ireland and engage in close pursuit that leads to some delightful chases through Dublin; these two, thinking themselves protected by the Atlantic Ocean, are foolish enough to send an insulting message to King Muldoon, a gangster in New York who is interested in buying the St Patrick Cross as a tombstone for himself. Muldoon packed into his private aeroplane a cohort, named Buggsy, Chuck, Sam, Hash, and Sideburns, with guns, ammunition, and grenades, and they come to join the rout. The chase reaches Father Conn’s country presbytery, and then makes a wild and hectic dash for the border. This story is a must for all Irishmen, their friends, and their enemies.

Death In the Jordan. By John Tyndall. Bles. 224 PP-

The most interesting thing about this book is that it is set in the Jordan Valley near to Jericho and gives what appears to be an authentic account of life there. There is a small community of Palestinian Arabs trying to carry on life under Israeli occupation; there are Israeli soldiers, a Captain Menahim Cohen in particular, on security duty, inclined to turn to violent methods as short cuts; there is Major Roger Turnbull, visiting the area on holiday because he had fought there years ago and liked the Arabs; and there is an archaeological expedition carrying out a dig there and, seemingly, wanting only to be allowed to get on with it. One of the members of the expedi-

tion is found murdered and the crime could have been committed by an infiltrating Arab terrorist group. Captain Cohen thinks so and hopes to find out more by dynamiting the houses of a few of the local Arabs. Roger Turnbull hopes to prevent this, and his investigations suggest strongly that one of the members of the archaeological expedition is the murderer. The story is well told and the investigation is cleyerly worked out; but it is the setting that grips the interest.

Kiss the Boys and Make Them Die. By James Yardley. Michael Joseph. 199 pp. Kiss Darling is a newcomer to the list of thriller heroines. She is employed as an investigator into insurance frauds and works with a man called Angus Fane. She has a remarkable memory, is intelligent, beautiful, and virtuous. While investigating the appearance of ancient jewels from a Pharaoh’s tomb on various markets of low repute, she and Angus attract the attention of some ill-disposed characters and get mixed up In some kidnapping and a resulting murder. They also meet two smooth young Egyptians, Tarek and Hussein Telak. The scene moves to Egypt where the great dam across the Nile has built up a lake which has submerged some of the old cliff carvings of the Pharaohs; and through the eye of Rameses II there is an underwater entrance to a large tomb. Hussein is now shown to be the leader of a group bent upon domination of the whole Middle East, and has been using the looted treasures to finance the operation. Just in time, Kiss and Angus, who have been exposed to inconvenience and danger, foil Hussein’s plot