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LOUIE'S RANSOM by E. W. Hildick

LOUIE'S RANSOM

By

Pub Date: March 20th, 1978
Publisher: Knopf

It would have to be one of Louie's Lot--an alumnus of Britain's best-organized milk route--who masterminds the kidnapping of stellar milkman Louie, American subdeb Pat Bessemer (extra help in Louie's Snowstorm, 1974), and boy-assistants Smitty and Tim, vacationing in the US at the invitation of Bessemer père, president of New Day Dairies. What with the Bessemer resources and Louie's old boys in key posts, the plot looks fool-proof: Pat's anxious father will ransom her and, back in Britain, a terrorist gang will be released for Louie's safe return. But The Organizer has lost sight of Louie's Sherlockian powers of recall and reasoning. Just about when his boys have decided that one of their own was responsible, Louie puts one thing and another together and--in a seemingly innocuous taped statement--tips them off to the culprit's identity. All very tricky--but Louie as super-sleuth is a case of milking an honest reputation. O.K. as a romp to race through but no match for the complications along the regular route.