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Paul Harris #12
Killer Moon
A noted war-writer asks to lease one of Paul Harris' boats. When he is killed soon after, two separate bands of terrorists try to find how much Harris knows.
190 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
6 people want to read
About the author
Gavin Black
31 books5 followersA pseudonym used by Oswald Wynd
Oswald Wynd (1913 – 1998) was a Scottish writer, born in Tokyo of parents who had left their native Perth to run a mission in Japan.
Oswald Wynd (1913 – 1998) was a Scottish writer, born in Tokyo of parents who had left their native Perth to run a mission in Japan.
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January 11, 2016
Paul Harris is a Scot businessman who is now a Malaysian citizen, which makes him a suspicious figure both to fellow expats and to Superintendent Kang of the police. His company makes small engines and runs a small fleet of trading junks that sometimes smuggle people as well as ship goods. Gavin Black (a pen name of Oswald Wynd) wrote fifteen Paul Harris novels between the early 1960s and the late 1970s. This one is the eighth I think) in the series. Some of the series books are stronger than others (especially the last half dozen), but, taken together, they provide insight into an interesting part of the world, and Harris is smart, if headstrong. (Malaya had been the site of a guerrilla war in the late 1940s and early 1950s between largely Chinese elements and the Malay, Tamil, and loyal Chinese elements of Malayan society, and their British overlords. See Noel Barber's "The War of the Running Dogs for a good history, or Tom Lilley's "The Officer from Special Branch" or Leslie Thomas's "The Virgin Soldiers" for fictional treatments of what the British called "the emergency.")
Harris is approached by a classic loudmouthed British expat named Robert Canne who once did something significant in the war and produced a best-seller about his exploits, but little else since except living off rich women and cadging drinks. The fact that his wartime accomplishments were lies (he collaborated with the Japanese), and that he and Harris are very much not friends, doesn't stop him from asking to use Harris's favorite boat for some undisclosed purpose. Harris turns him down, but agrees to smuggle him to a particular remote island so that he can write his next bestseller (knowing that it won't happen) and lick his wounds from his latest failed marriage.
Cannet is lying, of course, and his death at the hands of unknown gunmen just outside Harris's place of business puts Harris in the crosshairs (literally in one sense) from both those behind the gunmen and the police. Harris, though canny, greatly underestimates the extent to which he is a target given that he doesn't know anything about what Cannet knew or intended to do. This lack of sense is a weakness in the book, but it does set up a series of dangerous moments for the rest of the book, and Harris does get to make interesting comments about Malayan and Filipino society along the way. I give it four stars out of liking for the series, which is a four-star series, though the book probably does merit three stars.
Harris is approached by a classic loudmouthed British expat named Robert Canne who once did something significant in the war and produced a best-seller about his exploits, but little else since except living off rich women and cadging drinks. The fact that his wartime accomplishments were lies (he collaborated with the Japanese), and that he and Harris are very much not friends, doesn't stop him from asking to use Harris's favorite boat for some undisclosed purpose. Harris turns him down, but agrees to smuggle him to a particular remote island so that he can write his next bestseller (knowing that it won't happen) and lick his wounds from his latest failed marriage.
Cannet is lying, of course, and his death at the hands of unknown gunmen just outside Harris's place of business puts Harris in the crosshairs (literally in one sense) from both those behind the gunmen and the police. Harris, though canny, greatly underestimates the extent to which he is a target given that he doesn't know anything about what Cannet knew or intended to do. This lack of sense is a weakness in the book, but it does set up a series of dangerous moments for the rest of the book, and Harris does get to make interesting comments about Malayan and Filipino society along the way. I give it four stars out of liking for the series, which is a four-star series, though the book probably does merit three stars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review