Spectres in the Smoke: A Creeping Narrative - Hardcover

Broadbent, Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312290268 ISBN 13: 9780312290269

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2005

Synopsis

It's the austere 1948 world of post-war, black-market-riddled England, and Jethro, the cat burglar and jewel thief, has been pushed out onto the rooftops of London again by Colonel Walsingham of MI5.
And so, forced once again to step out from behind his disguise as a part-time stage-hand in London's West End, Jethro does a creep in Mayfair and sets in motion a tale of dark and deadly dealings that mixes national politics with black magic, orgies of abandon, and blackmail.
Things get even deadlier when he stumbles across a royal cover-up and then uncovers a plot to topple Clement Attlee's Labour Government.
And always ever present, looming in the background, are the twin spectres of the growing communist menace and a rebirth of fascism. There are even rumors the Americans are poking their noses deep into things and that a mysterious OSS agent is roaming around London with his eagle eye set on someone who looks a lot like Jethro.
To top it all, Walsingham comes up with a plan---"in Defence of the Realm"---that calls for Jethro to steal his way into the very heart of English aristocratic circles.
However, Walsingham's behind-the-scenes string pulling also has unintended consequences in London's gangland that result in Jethro finding himself up to his neck again in the never-ending battle between two of London's most notorious gang bosses, Darby Messima and Jack Spot.
And all this is just a precursor to Jethro having to do a very serious bit of burglary at a certain very grand country house, the success or failure of which could mean England saved from going to the dogs or spell curtains for Jethro.
In Spectres in the Smoke, Tony Broadbent has created a dark, shadowy vision of post-war London and spun a truly enthralling tale.

About this title

About the Author:

Tony Broadbent was born in Windsor, England, at the edge of "the Smoke," but now lives in Mill Valley, California, at the edge of "Fog City"---otherwise known as San Francisco. He can be found most nights hard at work setting up another caper for Jethro, the cat burglar and jewel thief.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Centered on "creeping," or the art of breaking into houses and museums and stealing valuable goods, the second entry in this series starring a London cat burglar is every bit as tense and fascinating as its predecessor (The Smoke, 2002). The narrator-hero, Jethro, operates in 1948 London, with the city still devastated by the effects of the Blitz and the rationing program. Broadbent's physical descriptions of Londoners crawling out from the ruins are vivid and powerful, as when he likens a street to a mouth with missing teeth. He is also instructive, without being overbearing, on the political and social history of the times. But what will make readers clutch their books a little tighter are the cat burglar's accounts of hanging from ropes outside of homes, dropping in, allowing all his senses to scan the area, and, when trouble looms, pulling off his gravity- and death-defying escapes. So good is this cat burglar that MI5, the UK's intelligence bureau, asks him again (as they did in The Smoke) to do a little breaking and entering for the good of Britain. This time, the job is to nab some records from the headquarters of the New Order of Britain Party, a Fascist group bent on destroying the current Labour government. Comic (and perilous) complications ensue when a band of criminals asks Jethro to steal the same items. Terrific details on cat burglary and embattled London, liberally laced with Jethro's sardonic wit. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0312290268
• ISBN 13: 9780312290269
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336