Monday, June 18, 2007

Lunchtime read: Trouble is my business

The last story in this collection is slightly longer than most of the rest and as a consequence is going to be consumed over two days. Admittedly the original intention was to read this over the weekend but I find it increasingly difficult to do any reading when I am not on a train coming to and from work or going to a meeting.

Highlights from the first half of Guns at Cyrano’s

* An ex detective who seems to be the son of someone who was very well connected in the town, Ted Malvern, comes across a woman in a doorway who has been hit in the face

* After talking to her it turns out that her boyfriend is a boxer who is meant to throw a fight and he is being warned off by his backer who is concerned the fighter will not play ball

* Malvern seems to know everyone and heads off to see the fight which is not thrown because the rival is so bad that the fight just cannot be thrown and Malvern heads backstage to warn the fighter that he is now going to be in trouble

* The fighter has a bodyguard who ends up in a fight with Malvern and then after they break apart all of the interested parties head to Cyrano’s night club where the boxer and his singer girlfriend are held up in a booth which results in the stick up man being shot by the boxer

More tomorrow…