Cork on the Water

I picked this book up for a dollar at a sidewalk sale in Philadelphia. I don't know why I bought it - I should be throwing books out. Nevertheless, I just finshed it. The writing is solid. The action is good. I never figured out what was going to happen; the plot was relatively complicated. It draws some interesting contrasts between people who are men of action,e.g., people who have been in combat, and people who shuffle paper: here insurance claims people. Additionally, there is a lot of local color having to do with rural Scotland. The action centers around a salmon fishing stream; and people seem to spend more time IN the stream than fishing. The best part of the book is its murkiness which comes through in the descriptions of the landscape, streams, old buildings and characters. The final chapter could have been cut in half - we don't need to have everything spelled out with a diagram anymore; I guess that was the style of the day. Otherwise, this book is better written (or, perhaps, edited) than most of the genre that I have read.

In the summer of 1949, Colonel Adrien de Crecy Johnson is fishing in the Highland river Edendale when he hooks a great salmon. However, as he reels the fish in during a monumental struggle that takes the fisherman all across the water, he finds himself amidst a decomposed human corpse. Apparently the victim, Gabriel Daggers, purchased a large life insurance policy only five months ago from the Anchor Accident Insurance Company. The insurance company's General Manager Montague Cork was planning to go on a three-week salmon-fishing trip. He decides to visit the locale where the seemingly healthy Daggers allegedly drowned, as the case feels suspiciously wrong. However, Montague never suspected that the inquiries would interrupt his fishing trip, but then again he was unaware of the villainous activities that permeate the Scottish Highlands. CORK ON THE WATER is a reprint of a 1951 novel that fans of historiography will fully enjoy. The story line is entertaining as the mystery unfolds. Montague is a wonderful character and his sidekick Robert Shipley adds humor and depth to the tale. However, what makes this tale so much fun is that Macdonald Hastings paints a masterpiece of 1949 England that does not depend on research as he was there to write a contemporary. Joyfully, more Cork reprints are to follow.