Deep, Dark and Dead (Linford Mystery Library)

Rating:
Summary: Sturdy British thriller from the 1970's
Review: Donald MacKenzie was a Canadian by birth but set his books in the UK .This 1978 book was to be his penultimate non -series book ,most subsequent tales being entries in his series about John Raven ,initially a police detective who was forced to leave the service .
Its good second string material .It opens in Knightsbridge Crown Court ,London where a former jockey , Shane Stafford ,is on trial for assualting national newspaper gossip columnist ,Legge .It is an open and shut case and his lawyer adopts the policy of pleading mitigating circumstances --Legge was formerly engagaged to Stafford's sister ,and on the break up of their relationship had launched a campaign of vituperation against her in his column .
The strategy is successful in that a suspended sentence -rather than a custodial one -is handed down ,and the judge in his sentencing excoriates Legge and his profession .
Legge then tries to provoke Shane and attacks him in his column while threatening to bankrupt him .Shane decides to strike back .He and his other sister , Emma ,decide to kidnap Legge ,hold him in a disused underground station in London and force him to print a recantation and aplogy for his attacks on the Stafford family .They have the reluctant assistance of the narrator , Emma's lover ,Jamie
Things go wrong quickly -a possible witness emerges in the form of a taxi driver ;and Legge is accidently killed while in captivity .Jamie wants to go to the police and admit the affair but Shane is prepared to kill to prevent the unravelling of his scheme for revenge
It is economically and crisply written ,building to a violent climax in an isolated village in the English West Country .
The book breaks no new ground but it is solid " library read " likely to give pleasure to those who read it without ever climbing to any great literary heights .
Worth checking out