Forgotten Book - Death and the Sky Above

This month the blog has, for the second month running, seen pageviews well in excess of one million. A big number, but I am conscious that AI surely accounts for a sizeable percentage, though how many, I can't say. So I remain very keen on diversifying with the content that I provide to readers, and I do hope that any of you who haven't done so will subscribe to my free monthly newsletter, The Life of Crime, which you can find here. The next issue is planned for 1 July.

There is also a paid version of the newsletter, currently running at two issues per month. This is The Life of Crime Premium and I'd like to give special thanks to all those who have subscribed to this so far. This has encouraged me to offer a widening range of material to those subscribers. In July, for instance, I'll be discussing a point Jim mentioned at Bodies from the Library - the suggestion that someone other than Leo Bruce wrote one of his Sergeant Beef novels. I'll share the evidence that demonstrates that was indeed the case.

My current plan is to retain Forgotten Books on the blog rather than moving them to the newsletter, but I'll keep this under review. 

Now for today's Forgotten Book... 

Death and the Sky Above is an early Andrew Garve title, dating from 1953. Nine years later, it was adapted by Roger Marshall (a terrific screenwriter, then right at the start of his career) into a short film. I can see why it was filmed, as Two Letter Alibi, because it's a visual and atmospheric story with no shortage of action sequences. Typical Andrew Garve, in fact.

In some ways, it's a combination of crime story and adventure story. There's a murder mystery which forms the catalyst for the action sequences, but the answer to the question of whodunit is hinted at very clearly in the first pages, and it most certainly isn't the main focus of the book. Garve was, in truth, usually much more interested in spinning an exciting yarn than in weaving a cunning mystery. There is, however, a neat plot device relating to an alibi connected with a Test cricket match at the Oval.

Charles Hilary is in love with an attractive and likeable TV presenter, Kathryn Forrester. The only snag is that Charles is married, to the once lovely but fast fading Louise. She's a difficult woman who takes pleasure in refusing him a divorce. They have an argument and he goes to the cricket to cool down. But whilst he's there, Louise is murdered. He's identified by a neighbour as having been present at the crucial time (though we know he wasn't) and he's duly convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.

But a lucky chance enables him to escape from prison, and the meat of the story concerns his attempts, with Kathryn's selfless support, to make a new life for them both by sailing away from England. As so often, Garve's enthusiasm for and knowledge of small boat sailing is a key component of the story. The murder mystery, such as it is, is perfunctory in the extreme, but the action is very well described.