A little while back I attended an event at Niche Comics Bookshop in Huntingdon, (yes I do visit it often, they are nice people and as I lived in Huntingdon until I got married I know the area). At the event in question, a book launch, Rosie Andrews’s, Puzzle Wood, I bought The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett, however, a mystery shelf with books gift wrapped and a brief description attached attracted my attention, (Blind Date with a Book.)
Tenpted I parted with my five pounds, it was an absolute bargain, because there was a five pound book token wrapped in the packaging, in effect, to celebrate Independent Book Shop Week, it was a book for free.
I waited until the next morning before unwrapping my purchase. The book inside was A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss. I have now finished reading the book and loved it.
The book is written about and set in 1950s Brighton, at around and following the time of Graham Green’s Brighton Rock, of which it alludes. Newly graduated, Constable Twitten finds himself at Brighton Police Station. Twitten has been moved from police force to police force on an almost daily basis since qualifying. It soon becomes apparent that Twitten’s keen, insightful approach to policing and crime solving is an irritant to his superior officers which has seen him quickly moved on elsewhere.
Having arrived at Brighton police station then left unsupervised, Twitten leafs through recent crime reports and quickly discovers a pattern in a spate of local burglaries. When he is imprudent enough to share his thoughts with his boss, Inspector Steine, it upsets the inspector creating the possibility that Twitten will be moved on yet again. Since Steine’s famous triumph in the case of the Middle Street Massacre, he holds the opinion that there is no crime in Brighton and isn’t keen to have this view challenged, particularly by Twitten.
A Shot in the Dark, although violent, set as it is in the era of Teddy Boys and serious criminality; its approach is completely off the wall. The activities of a criminal mastermind are well hidden as is the mastermind’s identity. However, when Twitten thinks he has put all the pieces of the jigsaw together his problems are not over. Lynne Truss has assembled a colourful cast of characters including a clever charwoman, a bricklaying strong woman, a Phrenologist and other interesting characters; the story is entertaining and engaging. I’m glad I tried this blind date..
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