Snatch Crop

Keith Calder #18

by Gerald Hammond

Gerald Hammond's latest romp through the Scottish Highlands proves that a Calder can take a new name, but she can't lose the investigative instinct that courses through the veins of this first family of amateur sleuthing. When Keith Calder's daughter Deborah weds Inspector Ian Fellowes, she hopes to luxuriate for a while in matrimonial bliss. Her plans evaporate, however, as she assumes the management of her godfather's pheasant packing company at his behest. She soon has the company running at peak efficiency, despite the twin annoyances of Mrs. Thrower, her arrogant and unreliable secretary, and Delia, the obnoxious woman's unruly daughter. Finding herself wishing that the two would simply disappear, she is nonetheless shocked when one of them actually does. Inspector Fellowes is assigned to the kidnapping, and Deborah tries to piece together the case from the questions her husband asks her. He's not giving anything away, though, much to Deborah's consternation. The Calder in her begins to assert itself, and she decides to launch an investigation of her own. Deborah soon finds herself swept up in a terrifying chain of events - including a perilous cross-country chase with the ruthless abductors - plunging her life into grave danger. Praise for Gerald “Gerald Hammond’s series about gunsmith Keith Calder is rewarding indeed.” - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Born in 1926, Gerald Hammond lived in Scotland, where he retired from his profession as an architect in 1982 to pursue his love of shooting and fishing and to write full time. After his first novel, Fred in Situ, was published in 1965, Gerald became a prolific author with over 70 published novels. Most of his novels were published under his own name, but he also wrote under the pseudonyms Arthur Douglas and Dalby Holden.

Genres: Mystery

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Gerald Hammond, (Gerald Arthur Douglas Hammond) son of Frederick Arthur Lucas (a physician) and Maria Birnie (a nursing sister) Hammond; married Gilda Isobel Watt (a nurse), August 20, 1952; children: Peter, David, Steven. Education: Aberdeen School of Architecture, Dip. Arch., 1952. He served in the British Army, 1944-45. Although born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, he worked in and retired to the country he most loved, Scotland.

He also writes under the names of Arthur Douglas and Dalby Holden. He was an architect for thirty years before retiring to write novels full-time in 1982. He has written over 50 novels since the late 1960s.

His novels center around guns, shooting, hunting, fishing, and dog training.

Reviews

[Viva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't explain the characters or the setting as this series should be read from the start in order to fully understand everything.

Spoilers ahead. I started and like this series because it has to do with Scotland, game shooting, guns and dogs. This particular book in the series is a bit meaningless as it doesn't do anything well.

There are a couple of themes in this book.

1) Deborah is put in charge of a pheasant packing plant, I suppose the author is suggesting that all the pheasants that are being shot could be utilized commercially.

2) Insider trading. Bernard Thrower is an executive (accountant?) for a firm that is being bought out. He notices that executives are exercising dodgy trades and decides to disappear before he could be silenced. His daughter (Delia) is then kidnapped in order to stop him from talking (tenuous reasoning). A large part of this book then deals with looking for Delia and then when Deborah finds her, she too is kidnapped. They spend a quite a bit of time escaping and succeed and that's the end of the book.

The last part ends with a lot of text about insider trading but I really wasn't interested in that and fast read it.

A very ho-hum part of the series, it looked like the author was really scrambling for ideas. Fortunately these books are less than 10 chapters long and can be finished in a day.

[Evonne Hutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Human greed never cease to amaze!
A young girl kidnapped combines with insider trading to paint this compelling picture
And as always one of the Calders is right in the middle of the action!
Well written with a good story line

[Mrs. Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snatch crop

A Really enjoyable Calder family tale of mystery, murder and mayhem, but in a nice, gentle and none vicious style