The Crime-Book Society paperback edition No.69 - 1939?
Prior to 1930, when the 38 year-old Captain Pollard had his first novel published, he had already had a vibrant life. Born in Surrey in May 1893, he was educated at St. Olave's Grammar School and Merchant Taylors' School (I did my teaching practice there!); he then worked as a clerk in an Insurance company, before volunteering for the Army on 8th August 1939. Twice wounded while serving on the Western Front, he gained the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for bravery in Sanctuary Wood (Ypres Salient). Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in January 1916, he twice earned the Military Cross (MC) and then a VC for courage shown in April 2017 at Gavrelle. He earned the highest and largest number of awards for a soldier in his unit. Not surprisingly (like so many others), he found it hard to settle down after the War. Between 1924 and 1926, he served a short term commission as a Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force. He then turned to writing, both novels and non-fiction. In 1932, he published his autobiography - Fire-Eater: the Memoirs of a VC. He died in December 1960, aged 67, having written more than 60 books.
Rum Alley was only his second book (the first was Pirdale Island, published in 1930) and it is clearly that of an author trying to 'find his feet'. The prose is rather clunky and the dialogue often pedestrian. The story is set in the USA and England, commencing with the major protagonist, William James Inskip, who is out of a job, helping a man who is being pursued by three rogues. Two of the pursuers are dealt with, the third escaping. The grateful recipient of Inskip's aid is a hulk: Timothy O'Halloran, or Scuddy was six foot four in height, with a body to match. His enormous head was thickly covered with red hair. His left eye was missing, which, with a deep scar which ran from the middle of his right cheek to the corner of his mouth, gave his face a look of permanent ferocity. Someone to have on your side, then. Scuddy is sailing for England the following day but will prove to be a reliable and important comrade in the future. On his way to a job, Inskip sees another man lurking on the side-walk, a thin rat-faced little man. He is to figure throughout the story as an unpleasant, dangerous piece of work.
Inskip turns up at his new boss' home in Portland: the door was opened by a girl who almost took his breath away with her dazzling loveliness. Large blue eyes well matched a dainty mouth and dimpled chin. Her head was crowned with a mass of golden curls. Well, if Inskip can survive the novel's (dangerous) adventures, the reader knows what the outcome will be. She is Elsie, Hiram P. Baker's only child. Baker works for the American government, trying to stamp out the illegal whisky trade/spirit dumping/bootlegging in the State of Maine. Staying with the Bakers is Sir George Bamborough, an English baronet. Inskip and Bamborough fail to hit it off, mainly because they both fancy Elsie. Rigmaroles and shenanigans occur off the coast of Maine; then Inskip is sent to London (closely followed by Baker, his daughter and Sir George) in an attempt to pin down the 'Mr. Big' behind the spirit running; in fact it is worse as there is clearly drugs (mainly cocaine) also involved.
There are some interesting scenes, which flesh out exactly who are the drug runners and their operators - 'rat-face' (the character never quite 'works' as a realistic individual) is a major figure but clearly only a side-kick; it is Sir George (I give away nothing as this is obvious very early on in the tale) who is the mainspring behind all the chicanery. Scuddy also reappears as someone very much involved in the illicit trading. At one stage, dear Elsie gets abducted, but Inskip quickly proves his metal. The finale takes place off the American coast, involving at least three drug-running boats and two USA destroyers. The English baronet meets the end he deserves - A wild scream. Sir George Bamborough threw up his arms and pitched face downwards on the deck. A bone handle quivered between his shoulders. The novel was an 'easy read' as the narrative bordered on the simplistic and the characters veered towards caricatures. Still, the author obviously had something to say, as he proved this over the next three decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment