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Slim Callaghan #6
They Never Say When
A jangling telephone interrupts a long-awaited country holiday. Slim Callaghan and his sidekick Windy are summoned from their fun and games to investigate murder and mystery. The BBC is producing the late Peter Cheyney's first two 1940s Callaghan mysteries, Urgent Hangman and Dangerous Curves.
- GenresDetective
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1944
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Peter Cheyney
110 books30 followersBorn Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, he trained as a lawyer before getting tired of legal office work and joining the Army. He fought at the second Battle of the Somme in World War I and was wounded but when he returned to England he wrote songs, poems and short stories for various newspapers and magazines and used many pseudonyms.
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.
His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.
There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.
His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.
Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 16, 2016
Rather than solve cases, the private detective's main job is to alter the evidence and drink enormous amounts of whiskey and rum
My father read this Author during WWII
My father read this Author during WWII
January 13, 2018
Pure fun entertainment in the typical Cheyney fashion.
August 26, 2024
Slim Callaghan takes a break from heavy drinking to solve a case involving a stolen necklace, blackmail, and extremely beautiful women. Saying more reveals too much of a tricky, tricky plot.
I tend to prefer Peter Cheney’s spy novels, because his hardboiled novels depend on a peculiar variation of American slang. Nonetheless, this one is very much like the American pulp Cheney clearly admires. Like Perry Mason, Callaghan is going to make all the right moves, and the fun of the book is to see how he gets away with a series of unethical decisions that bring the case to a conclusion.
Features in this one are gorgeous women (who all fall for Mr. Callaghan), unbelievable liquor consumption and everyone’s confidence that Mr. Callaghan will get away with whatever scheme he has in mind.
Fun and noirish. Not a typical combination in 1945, when noir took itself and its wisecracks very seriously.
I tend to prefer Peter Cheney’s spy novels, because his hardboiled novels depend on a peculiar variation of American slang. Nonetheless, this one is very much like the American pulp Cheney clearly admires. Like Perry Mason, Callaghan is going to make all the right moves, and the fun of the book is to see how he gets away with a series of unethical decisions that bring the case to a conclusion.
Features in this one are gorgeous women (who all fall for Mr. Callaghan), unbelievable liquor consumption and everyone’s confidence that Mr. Callaghan will get away with whatever scheme he has in mind.
Fun and noirish. Not a typical combination in 1945, when noir took itself and its wisecracks very seriously.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews