Trouble Brewing (Jack Haldean Mystery #6)

by Dolores Gordon-Smith

Overview

A missing man leads Jack Haldean straight into danger . . . - Mark Helston, the rising star of Hunt Coffee Limited, was successful and popular, with plenty of money and everything to live for. Yet at half past seven on the evening of the ninth of January, 1925, he walked out of his Albemarle Street flat and disappeared.  Desperate to know what happened to Mark, his uncle, old Mr Hunt, appeals to Jack Haldean. Inspector Bill Rackham of Scotland Yard thinks it’s a thankless task. Perhaps, says Jack, but why should Mark Helston vanish? And then Jack finds a body . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847514288
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	02/01/2013
Series:	Jack Haldean Series , #6
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dolores Gordon-Smith lives in Greater Manchester and is married, with five teenage children and assorted dogs and cats.

Editorial Reviews

At the outset of Gordon-Smith’s absorbing sixth Jack Haldean mystery (after 2010’s Off the Record), Jack visits the London home of Harold Rushton Hunt, the elderly owner of Hunt Coffee, who asks the unofficial detective’s help in finding his great-nephew, Mark Helston. On the evening of January 9, 1925, Helston, an employee of the family firm, left his flat, and no one has seen him since. The local police who investigated were baffled, so Jack tells Hunt he has little hope of succeeding, but he agrees to take the case. As Jack starts to interview other members of the Hunt family, more than one of whom turns up dead, he uncovers a trail that leads to the coffee plantations of Brazil. While some readers may bog down in the abundant details, Sherlock Holmes fans will enjoy how the intricate plot builds to a particularly satisfying solution. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"A classic mystery in the style of Philip Macdonald’s Anthony Gethryn stories; complex, insouciant and very British"
Kirkus Reviews on Trouble Brewing

From the Publisher

"A classic mystery in the style of Philip MacDonald’s Anthony Gethryn stories: complex, insouciant and very British"

Booklist

"A classic mystery in the style of Philip MacDonald’s Anthony Gethryn stories: complex, insouciant and very British"

Booklist

A clever sleuth's efforts to find a missing man involve him in murder. H.R. Hunt, the head of Hunt Coffee Limited, wants Jack Haldean, a World War I pilot turned mystery writer and amateur sleuth, to find his vanished great-nephew Mark Helston. Although the police have concluded that Mark left for reasons of his own, Haldean (Off the Record, 2011, etc.) agrees, despite his reservations, to look for him. Mark and his sister Pat inherited a large amount of money from their grandmother, most of it going to Mark. Pat, who's been collecting an income from her share, would inherit it all if Mark was proved dead. A body Haldean finds in a deserted house is identified as that of the Brazilian who managed the Hunt coffee plantation. Suddenly Mark is a murder suspect. The case becomes even more confusing when Pat's first husband, Larry Tyrell, who was reported killed in the war, turns up claiming amnesia. Pat's current husband, Greg Jaggard, loves her despite their often rocky relationship and is suspicious that Tyrell's appeared now that Pat may be in line for a fortune. H.R. Hunt has a pal of Haldean's looking for reasons for the company's suspiciously low profits, even though Frederick Hunt, who currently runs the business, is untroubled by them. When a company secretary is murdered and Haldean finds Mark buried under another man's name, Jaggard is arrested for murder. Haldean doesn't believe in Jaggard's guilt, but it will be tough to prove him innocent. A classic mystery in the style of Philip Macdonald's Anthony Gethryn stories; complex, insouciant and very British.

Kirkus Reviews