The Reservoir Case, in its early stages, had failed to grip the public imagination. The victim was a woman, but not a young nor a glamorous woman. And the prisoner was a professional criminal, and seemed to be quite plainly guilty.
Now, no one quite knew how, at the last minute of the eleventh hour, the word had got through to Fleet Street that the Reservoir Case was news; news on the largest possible scale.
There had been an independent investigation – no one quite knew by whom. New facts had come to life. The reputation of the police was involved. There had been a hasty rereading of the reports of the case at the Old Bailey and a new significance had been seen in Mr Wainwright’s attacks on Superintendent Kellaway. Had they really been so wide of the mark? Might there be something–?
“Get down and see Howton’s solicitors,” said the editor of the Trumpet. “We’ll make an offer for Howton’s story.” He mentioned a figure which caused the hard-working and underpaid reporter whom he was addressing to open his eyes very wide indeed. “If the Court of Appeal upholds the verdict, we may have wasted our money, but I think it’s a gamble worth taking.”
“Have our best man cover the appeal,” said the editor of the Outline. “I heard in the club on very good authority that there’s going to be a first-class stink. Even if they don’t allow the appeal, there’ll be some good stuff.”
“Howton,” said the editor of the Basket. “Never heard of him, but I’m told he’s important – how do you spell it, by the way?” No one seemed to know. “We don’t want to get left behind. Read up all the reports of the earlier hearing – and get cracking.”
It had all happened so quickly that, although everyone knew, on the best authority, that something sensational was going to happen, no one quite knew what the fuss was about. Not that this worried the people concerned. Fleet Street works very happily when it is in a hurry.
Nothing was possible in the morning papers beyond a few guarded preliminary references. But by half past nine there was a queue for the public gallery, and when the three judges took their seats on the stroke of ten o’clock the court was crowded.
The Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Melford of Drome, a short but unforgettably impressive figure, faced Boot Howton across the well of the highest Court of Criminal Jurisdiction in the land.
“I understand, Mr Younger,” said the Lord Chief, “that in view of certain evidence now in its possession, the Crown has decided not to proceed with the case against this man.”
“That is so, my Lord,” said Mr Younger.
“Very well then, Mr Younger. It only remains–”
“Might I say a word, my Lord?”
“Certainly, Mr Wainwright. I take it you are not going to press the Crown to reconsider its decision?”
“I should only like it to be made plain, my Lord – I understand this to be the case – that this decision has not been reached on any legal technicality but because the Crown is now quite convinced that my client had nothing to do with the crime with which he stood charged.”
The Lord Chief looked at Mr Younger, who rose again, and said, “That is so, my Lord. I would add that proceedings are pending against another accused.”
“In that case,” said the Lord Chief, “it remains only for me to discharge you. Which I do.”
The next moment the dock was empty, and unparalleled confusion had ensued. The team from the Trumpet, who had come to watch over their protégé – (Howton had become theirs for a large down payment at nine o’clock that morning) – had barely settled in their places and were separated from the door of the court by a dense crowd. They made the best of their way towards the nearest exit, but unfortunately there were a number of other people with the same idea in mind, to say nothing of the legal advisers in the next case on the list, who were caught equally unprepared and were moving strongly in the opposite direction.
“If there is any further disturbance,” said the Lord Chief, “I will have the court doors locked, and anyone who is in will stay in, and anyone who is out will stay out.”
Petrella had just put down his empty cup and was wondering how he was going to kill the hours until lunchtime when a small, lancet-shaped door with intricate iron hinges a few feet away from him opened, and Howton came out. He was quite alone, and looked a bit lost.
The two men stared at each other speechlessly.
A court official appeared behind Boot, and said to him, “If you want to avoid the crowd, you can slip out into Carey Street.”
“That’s all right,” said Howton. He stood, still staring at Petrella, and Petrella stared, fascinated, back.
A faint sneer ridged Howton’s unlovely face. “So you couldn’t make it stick,” he muttered. Then he hitched himself round, and stumped off, up the tiled passage, and through the swing doors at the end of it, and out of sight.
Petrella sat on for a long time. He was tucked away at the end of the long bar, and no one took any notice of him. He watched the team from the Trumpet go past, faint but pursuing; and a group of solicitors’ managing clerks, with nothing much to do but drink Bass and Guinness, and various members of the public who seemed to have lost their way.
A fresh bustle of activity round the bar signalled that the luncheon recess was approaching. He got up stiffly and walked out into the main hall of the courts.
On an impulse he turned left halfway down the hall, climbed a flight of turret stairs straight out of grand opera, and found himself immediately outside the Lord Chief Justice’s court.
He pushed open the door and peered inside. The court was empty, and silent, but it had the signs of its recent use all about it; the heavy chairs on the dais pushed back, just as their judicial occupants had quitted them; the clerk’s table below the dais littered with papers; and books everywhere, some lying singly, some strapped in bundles, and many thousands more cramming the shelves which walled the court. Petrella thought that he had never seen a room more impressive or more apt to its purposes: panelled, cool, a quiet harmony of law-calf and boxwood set against green curtains and walls.
Immediately over the Lord Chief’s seat, carved in hardwood, the Lion and the Unicorn faced each other across the Crown. The Unicorn was gazing up into the ceiling. The Lion, on the other hand, was staring down his nose at the court. He had a sardonic look about him. He had been watching over Justice for so long.
Michael Gilbert Titles in order of first publication
All Series titles can be read in order, or randomly as standalone novels
Inspector Hazlerigg
1. Close Quarters 1947
2. They Never Looked Inside alt: He Didn’t Mind Danger 1948
3. The Doors Open 1949
4. Smallbone Deceased 1950
5. Death has Deep Roots 1951
6. Fear To Tread (in part) 1953
7. The Young Petrella (included) (short stories) 1988
8. The Man Who Hated Banks and Other My (included) (short stories) 1997
Patrick Petrella
1. Blood and Judgement 1959
2. Amateur in Violence (included) (short stories) 1973
3. Petrella at Q (short stories) 1977
4. The Young Petrella (short stories) 1988
5. Roller Coaster 1993
6. The Man Who Hated Banks and Other Mysteries (included) (short stories) 1997
Luke Pagan
1. Ring of Terror 1995
2. Into Battle 1997
3. Over and Out 1998
Calder & Behrens
1. Game Without Rules (short stories) 1967
2. Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens (short stories) 1982
Non-Series
1. Death in Captivity alt: The Danger Within 1952
2. Sky High alt: The Country House Burglar 1955
3. Be Shot for Sixpence 1956
4. After the Fine Weather 1963
5. The Crack in the Teacup 1966
6. The Dust and the Heat alt: Overdrive 1967
7. The Etruscan Net alt: The Family Tomb 1969
8
. Stay of Execution and Other Stories (short stories) 1971
9. The Body of a Girl 1972
10. The Ninety-Second Tiger 1973
11. Flash Point 1974
12. The Night of the Twelfth 1976
13. The Empty House 1979
14. The Killing of Katie Steelstock alt: Death of a Favourite Girl 1980
15. The Final Throw alt: End Game 1982
16. The Black Seraphim 1984
17. The Long Journey Home 1985
18. Trouble 1987
19. Paint, Gold, and Blood 1989
20. Anything for a Quiet Life (short stories) 1990
21. The Queen against Karl Mullen 1992
Synopses (Both Series & ‘Stand-alone’ Titles)
Published by House of Stratus
After The Fine Weather
When Laura Hart travels to Austria to visit her brother, vice-consul of Lienz in the Tyrol, she briefly meets an American who warns her of the mounting political tension. Neo-Nazis are stirring trouble in the province, and xenophobia is rife between the Austrians who control the area and the Italian locals. Then Laura experiences the troubles first-hand, a shocking incident that suggests Hofrat Humbold, leader of the Lienz government is using some heavy-handed tactics. Somewhat unsurprisingly, he is unwilling to let one little English girl destroy his plans for the largest Nazi move since the war, and Laura makes a dangerous enemy.
Anything For A Quiet Life
Jonas Pickett, lawyer and commissioner of oaths is nearing retirement, but still has lots of energy. However, he leaves the pressure of a London practice behind to set up a new modest office in a quiet seaside resort. He soon finds that he is overwhelmed with clients and some of them involve him in very odd and sometimes dangerous cases. This collection of inter-linked stories tells how these are brought to a conclusion; ranging from an incredible courtroom drama involving a gipsy queen to terrorist thugs who make their demands at gunpoint.
Be Shot For Sixpence
A gripping spy thriller with a deserved reputation. Philip sees an announcement in The Times from an old school friend who has instructed the newspaper to publish only if they don’t hear from him. This sets a trail running through Europe, with much of the action taking place on the Austro-Hungarian border. The Kremlin, defectors, agitators and the People’s Court set the background to a very realistic story that could well have happened …
The Black Seraphim
James Scotland, a young pathologist, decides on a quiet holiday in Melchester, but amid the cathedral town’s quiet medieval atmosphere, he finds a hornet’s nest of church politics, town and country rivalries, and murder. He is called upon to investigate and finds that some very curious alliances between the church, state and business exist. With modern forensic pathology he unravels the unvarnished truth about Melchester, but not before a spot of unexpected romance intervenes.
Blood & Judgement
When the wife of a recently escaped prisoner is found murdered and partially buried near a reservoir, Patrick Petrella, a Metropolitan Police Inspector, is called in. Suspicion falls on the escaped convict, but what could have been his motive? Petrella meets resistance from top detectives at the Yard who would prefer to keep the inspector out of the limelight, but he is determined to solve the mystery with or without their approval.
The Body Of A Girl
Detective Chief Inspector Mercer is called to the scene when a skeleton of a girl is found on Westlaugh Island in the upper reaches of the River Thames. What appears to be a straightforward and routine investigation, however, leads to unexpected events and a string of unlikely characters, including a lawyer and a one armed garage proprietor. Nothing seems to fit together and it seems the sleepy town holds many secrets. The finale involves two nights of dramatic violence and it isn’t until this stage is reached that the twisted truth finally emerges.
Close Quarters
It has been more than a year since Cannon Whyte fell 103 feet from the cathedral gallery, yet unease still casts a shadow over the peaceful lives of the Close’s inhabitants. In an apparently separate incident, head verger Appledown is being persecuted: a spate of anonymous letters and random acts of vandalism imply that he is inefficient and immoral. But then the notes turn threatening, and when Appledown is found dead, Inspector Hazlerigg is called in. Investigations suggest that someone directly connected to the cathedral is responsible, and it is up to Hazlerigg to get to the heart of the corruption.
The Crack In The Teacup
Barhaven is on the south coast within commuting distance from London. It is, however, a fairly sleepy place and it seems incredulous that it could be the kind of town where the local councillors could manage to line their own pockets. However, there is something odd about the borough engineers behaviour, and it seems strange that the owner of the local amusement park is unknown, and the Town Clerk himself is acting peculiarly. Enter a young lawyer, who finds himself at the centre of a major campaign against racketeering. The public and the press become involved and it ends with a twist that is totally unexpected.
Death Has Deep Roots
This is a detective and trial story with a complicated plot that will grip the reader. Victoria Lamartine is on trial for the murder of her supposed lover, whom she is accused of having stabbed. There are only five suspects including Lamartine. But evidence that doesn’t fit the police theory of the crime has been ignored, whilst all of the damming evidence is presented in isolation. Intriguingly, whilst the murder was committed in England, all of the suspects somehow have a past connection with France and its wartime underground. However, there now appears to be links to gold smuggling and it is not immediately clear how all of the different pieces of evidence fit together. As always, Gilbert neatly takes the reader to a satisfying final twist and conclusion.
Death In Captivity
A suspected informer is found dead in a collapsed section of an escape tunnel being dug in a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy. So as to protect the tunnel the prisoners decide to move the body to another that has already been abandoned. But then the fascist captors declare the death to be murder and determine to investigate and execute the officer they suspect was responsible. It therefore becomes a race against time to find the true culprit and Captain Henry "Cuckoo" Goyles, a former headmaster, master tunneller and sometime amateur detective takes on the case.
The Doors Open
One night on a commuter train, Paddy Yeatman-Carter sees a man attempting suicide. Intervening, he prevents the man from going through with it. However, the very next day the same man is found dead, and Paddy believes the circumstances to be extremely suspicious. Roping in his friend and lawyer, Nap Rumbold, he determines to discover the truth. They become increasingly suspicious of the dead man’s employers: the Stalagmite Insurance Company, who appear to hire some very dangerous staff.
The Dust And The Heat
Oliver Nugent is a young Armoured Corps officer in the year 1945. Taking on a near derelict pharmaceutical firm, he determines to rebuild it and make it a success. He encounters some ruthless opposition, and counteracts with some fairly unscrupulous methods of his own. It seems no one is above blackmail and all is deemed fair in big business battles. Then a threat: apparently from German sources it alludes to a time when Oliver was in charge of an SS camp, jeopardizing his company and all that he has worked for.
The Empty House
Dr. Alexander Wolfe, a top genetic scientist – a key figure in British Biological Warfare Research - seemingly plunges over a cliff in his car. His body is never recovered and it emerges his life was recently insured for a considerable sum. Accordingly, Peter Manciple, an insurance loss adjuster from a fairly cautious firm, is sent to investigate. There is romance, possible gang involvement in arson, and a potential job offer in store as Peter sets out to find out if Wolfe is really dead in a most dangerous and complicated mission.
The End Game
The London Regional Crime Squad, is trying to nail a financial empire involved with
organised crime and drug smuggling. David Morgan goes undercover and is hired by a travel company to act as a tour guide around Europe, but is in fact being used as a drug mule. Eventually, he also finds himself posing as a homeless vagrant in order to track down a former employee of the financial empire who knows of the whereabouts of incriminating documents. This is a ‘Snakes and Ladders’ operation with twists and which ranges from London to Florence.
The Etruscan Net
Robert Broke runs a small gallery on the Via de Benci and is an authority on Etruscan terracotta. A man who keeps himself to himself, he is the last person to become mixed up in anything risky. But when two men arrive in Florence, Broke’s world turns upside down as he becomes involved in a ring of spies, the mafiosi and fraud involving Etruscan antiques. When he finds himself in prison on a charge of manslaughter, the net appears to be closing in rapidly, and Broke must fight for his innocence and his life.
Fear To Tread
The story of how Mr. Weatherall, the headmaster of a school, but otherwise an ordinary man, was introduced to a huge nationwide black market operation. It seems that anything goes so as to ensure profits and the continuance of the fraud in what amounts to crime on a vast and organised scale. Moreover, was the victim run over by a train before, or after, he died? And can Mr. Weatherall succeed in getting to the heart of the matter in a one man battle against such odds?
Flashpoint
Will Dylan is an electoral favourite – intelligent, sharp and good-looking, he is the government’s new golden boy. Jonas Killey is a small-time lawyer – determined, uncompromising and obsessed, he is hounding Dylan in the hope of bringing him into disrepute. Believing he has information that can connect Dylan with an illegal procedure during a trade union merger, he starts to spread the word, provoking a top-level fluttering. At the crucial time of a general election, no government can afford bad press. Jonas suddenly finds himself pursued by those who want to keep him quiet, but he is determined that the truth will be heard.
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