DAY OF FEAR
By
In every husband-and-wife detective series, there's one story--at least--in which the wife is held captive by ruthless foreign types while the husband is, for the first 50 pages or so, Away. This is that one for Patrick Dawlish and wife Felicity, who is terrorized by Balkans who have tracked the heir apparent to her door; the wounded, unconscious prince possesses the secret of the royal fortune, and the courtly, super-patriotic thugs think he has passed it on to Felicity. Hitting, hurting, and even killing (the local doctor who's trying to resuscitate the prince) ensue, but Patrick is On His Way--for an extended siege and shoot-out. Nothing by Creasey is totally devoid of crisp, bare flair, but this latest posthumous export-reprint comes mighty close.