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PURSUIT OF ARMS by Gerald Hammond

PURSUIT OF ARMS

By

Pub Date: Jan. 28th, 1985
Publisher: St. Martin's

Scottish gunsmith-sleuth man-of-action Keith Calder (Sauce for the Pigeon) embroiled in all sorts of trouble stemming from his contract with shady arms-dealer Eddie Adoni to repair a truckload of guns. The same truck is carrying a shipment of valuable antique guns put up for sale by defected Pohsh ballerina Butch, currently living with Keith's brother-in-law Ronnie. The truck is hijacked, two men are killed; Keith's friend Superintendent Munro is off the case but he and Keith set up their own investigation, soon complicated by the kidnapping of Keith's seven-year-old sharpshooting daughter Deborah. Her rescue, in a crafty, think-of-everything operation, is tense and coherent. But the rest of the story tends to bog down in confusing subplots, thick Scots accents, Secret Service agents and Polish politics. All in all, competent but not compelling.