February 1, 2024

TAXONOMY – The current taxonomic system now has eight levels in its hierarchy, from lowest to highest, they are: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain.

I throw in this apparently random piece of information merely to suggest that An Honest Living does not fit easily into a genre, and many readers, especially of crime fiction, love genres and little compartments into which books can be placed. This is the story of a New York lawyer, apparently the author himself, who becomes involved in a complex case involving arcane transcripts of historic legal cases. Sounds dull? Yes, probably, but the actual content transcends the banal description. This is, in no particular order, a love poem to a 2000s New York City that, two decades later, has all but disappeared. It is an account of a decent man drawn into a complex conspiracy. It tells of men and women who, despite their elevated social status, can act with the veniality and simple greed of lesser mortals.

Our man has left a well-paid corporate legal position to work for himself, trusting in his innate skills to keep the bills paid. When he is hired by the estranged wife of a prominent bibliophile to denounce the man as a scoundrel, he accepts the case – and the bundle of high value notes – with alacrity. A few weeks later, when the man’s wife is exposed as a fraud – and Newton Reddick’s real wife appears on the scene, Murphy is in a world of trouble. As it happens, he gets away without being sued for libel, and he also gets to keep the cash. More importantly, however, he establishes a relationship with Anna Reddick, a successful author writing under the pseudonym AM Byrne.

When Newton Reddick is found hanged in a seedy hotel, matters take a distinctly sinister turn. Is there a connection with Anna Reddick’s father, a rich but not-entirely-honest businessman?

Although I enjoyed the book, I would take issue with the back cover blurb which calls the novel “hard-boiled”. If you are expecting anything resembling Noir as in, say, Jim Thompson, Ted Lewis or Derek Raymond you will not find it. This is much more delicate stuff and we are taken on a stylish and nostalgic meander through the streets and districts of New York as it was two decades ago, in the company of some intriguing characters, whose vicissitudes we share. Published by No Exit Press, this edition is available now.

Have you ever wondered were CIA spooks go when they are pensioned off? Tess Gerritsen tells us that a number of them have settled down in the tiny Maine harbour town of Purity. Among them is Maggie Bird, once a stone cold killer for the Company, but now just a chicken farmer with the common ailments – such as aching joints – shared by all senior citizens. Her neighbours are mostly of a similar age and background – particularly Ben Diamond, Declan Rose and the elderly couple Lloyd and Ingrid Slocum.

When Maggie is visited by a current CIA operative, a young woman who identifies herself only as Bianca, she is reminded of an unwelcome part of her past, in the shape of a fellow agent called Diana Ward. Ward is still active, but has gone missing, her bosses are concerned, and are offering to pay Maggie to help trace the missing woman. Maggie rejects the offer, saying she does not care if Ward is dead or alive.

Why the indifference? It is, as they say, complicated, and we learn that Ward and Maggie go back a long way, with the pivotal point in their professional relationship being an attempt, years earlier to take out a British wheeler-dealer – and international gangster – called Phillip Hardwicke. Long story short, the end result was a CIA sting that ended in disaster for Maggie. Her doctor husband, Danny, had been working as Hardwicke’s personal physician, and a private jet they were were traveling in left Malta, only to explode mid-air and crash into the sea with the loss of all on board.

Back in present day Maine, Maggie is with her friends, discussing the mysterious visit of Bianca, when she hears that police have surrounded her house. Rushing home to investigate, she finds there is a corpse lying in the frozen snow of her driveway. It is the woman who called herself Bianca, and she has been tortured bt then professionally despatched with two bullets to the head.

Maggie realises that the carnage is all about her and her past and so reluctantly she packs a few things, arranges some chicken-sitters, and goes back on the road to see if she can exorcise the ghosts of her past. Her travels take her into immediate and present danger, in Thailand and across Europe. My copy of the book came with a couple of cocktail recipes (above). The Spy Coast has all the hallmarks of a classic mainstream American thriller – taut as piano wire, danger round every corner and with convincing portraits of exotic locations.