Pilot Error

Thane and Moss #15

by Bill Knox

The pilot was still alive when they pulled him out, but his passenger was dead. Pieces of the single-engined four-seater Beagle Pup were scattered in and around Fortrose, yet, in spite ofall the mess, Chief Inspector Colin Thane expected it to be a straightforward aircrash. However, Thane was wrong, and it was soon clear that more serious crimes were hidden in the wreckage ofthe plane and also in a small flying club in the Highlands.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

181 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1977

About the author

Also wrote as Robert MacLeod (westerns), Noah Webster and Michael Kirk.

William (Bill) Knox was a Scottish author, journalist and broadcaster, best known for his crime novels and for presenting the long-running STV series Crimedesk.

Born in Glasgow, Knox became the youngest journalist for a Glasgow newspaper at age 16. He went on to report on crime, on motoring, and to become a news editor.

He began writing crime novels in the 1950s. Knox often wrote under pseudonyms, frequently for the American market. These included Michael Kirk, Robert MacLeod and Noah Webster. He published over 50 crime novels, including several series, notably the "Thane and Moss" books.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good police procedural set in Scotland in the 1970's. Focuses on a mysterious plane crash into an apartment building. The crashed plane is removed to the airport for examination but the wreckage is mysteriously blown up. Why? A criminal plot with many moving parts is unraveled by the police.
Would read more by this author.

[Kellyanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book and nearly ditched it but I persevered with it. I'm not sure if it was the storyline or whether my fragmented reading of it made it hard to read. probably a bit of both.

Synopsis
A Thane and Moss mystery.Chief Inspector Colin Thane of Glasgow CID has a bad case of the Monday morning blues. Not only is he fighting a bout of flu, he’s also overwhelmed by departmental bureaucracy and the little matter of his latest assignment – the investigation of a private plane crash which has claimed the lives of two employees from a local travel agency.

And when a third employee of Eurobreak Vacations dies, and the wreckage of the aircraft is blown to smithereens, it seems likely to Thane that someone at Eurobreak is organising something rather more sinister than holidays.

So Thane and his trusted colleague Phil Moss retrace the final steps of the recently departed and take off for the Highlands on a little busman’s holiday of their own.