Gumshoe

by Neville Smith

Animateur de bingo dans un club ringard, Eddie Ginley rêve d'être Sam Spade ou Elvis Presley. Malheureusement, Liverpool n'est pas Hollywood. Le jour de ses 31 ans, Eddie décide de s'offrir une publicité dans le journal : « Sam Spade - discrétion, efficacité. Un seul nom : Eddie Ginley. Toutes enquêtes sauf divorces. » On peut toujours rêver, non ? Or voilà que le téléphone sonne et qu'une voix mystérieuse lui donne rendez-vous dans un hôtel. Eddie s'y rend. Un inconnu lui remet un paquet. Eddie pense que ses copains ont trouvé là une façon idéale de lui souhaiter son anniversaire. Mais dans le paquet, il y a la photo d'une jeune fille, mille livres en billets de dix et un Smith & Wesson.

Genres: Crime

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[Peter Thew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A screenplay that became a film and eventually a book. Smith's hero, Eddie is a comic in a seedy 1960s Liverpool nightclub who imagines himself as a modern-day Sam Spade. So he places an ad in the local newspaper- and his world comes tumbling down. It's great fun and Smith includes a range of good one-liners in the best gumshoe tradition.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired by his love for Raymond Chandler, Eddie Ginsley puts an advert in the newspaper as a private detective for hire. In reality he is a comedian on the dole. Then he receives a call for a job, and intrigue, danger, and hilarity ensue.

[Paddyspub · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. A down on the luck comic places an ad in the paper to be a private eye and gets more than he bargained for. Several times in this book I laughed out loud from what Ginley said. Good book.

[A.D. Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim tome, but highly entertaining. Set in Liverpool, it captures the grey, dirty feel of the city in the 1970s - together with the humour and pathos that is an essential part of Liverpool's Irish heritage.