THE INTERFACE MAN
By
The Scottish Crime Squad, based in Glasgow, has gotten word that John Gort, a crack computer-expert involved in several major robberies, is returning to Scotland from a happy exile in Spain. Why? And does it connect to the death of quiet security-systems pro Robert Haston, jumped or pushed to his death from the train taking him home to Glasgow? It's all in the lap of Detective Superintendent Colin Thane (The Hanging Tree, etc.) and his tried-and-true team--whose attempt to follow Gort and his companion Janey Peters from the airport is thwarted by an elaborately engineered getaway plan. Gott and Peters have vanished, but Thane works on, his suspicions about Haston's death confirmed when Haston's wife is murdered and his home office destroyed. Then chance, informer tips, and heavy research home in on Computer Cabin, a big retail operation owned by smooth David Mark, his brother Jon, a near-pro golfer, and credit-manager Louise Crofts. Solid sleuthing and some inspired guesses unravel the villains' byzantine, confusing, just-credible scam--and lead to a tense windup in a tiny fishing village. No nonsense; some charm; but the very model of an updated police procedural--Scottish-style. One of this prolific author's best.