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A QUESTION OF RISK by L.M. Shakespeare

A QUESTION OF RISK

By

Pub Date: May 23rd, 1990
Publisher: St. Martin's

The second Lloyd's of London insurance thriller (Utmost Good Faith, 1988) from Shakespeare, who this time gets so mired in underwriter reinsurance shenanigans that she has to resort to footnotes to explain various business eccentricities and subtleties. The charming (when he has to be), brilliant, handsome, wealthy, and tony James Ross-Gilbert, along with his underwriter partner Dick Trene and a pair of tame brokers, defrauds almost everybody--from Lloyd's member agents to wealthy ""names."" Lord Allanport, for instance, unwittingly financed his own loss of upwards of two million pounds. Thanks to the pokings of financial writer Grace Derby, however, the illegal schemes come to light, and Ross-Gilbert quickly retires to Bermuda; Trene flees to Spain; and the government, Lloyd's, and the Shipping Investigation Securities assessor, Mal Harris (as well as a revenge-minded Lord Allanport), seek out Ross-Gilbert. Several murders later (ordered by Trene to protect his illegal holdings), all congregate in Baghdad--where Ross-Gilbert is pulling off another deal, until they finally cause his comeuppance. Stodgy, inscrutable first half, but the chase is deftly plotted and good fun. For the Paul Erdman contingent.