Spectres in the Smoke: A Creeping Narrative

This is a richly fact-based, but ultimately fictional, first-person account of a cockney creep's activities in post-WWII England. A "creep," in the vernacular, is a cat burglar. There is a lot of cockney dialect in these pages. It almost seems to be laid on a little too thick sometimes for the sake of steeping the book in local color. I sometimes doubted that even a died-in-the-wool cockney would interject that much rhyming slang into his conversation. However, a glossary at the beginning of the book will bring the reader up to speed on the meaning of such expressions as "butchers" and "turtles." Overall though, the reader will be drawn into Jethro's world as he pulls jobs both for Crown and Country, and for himself and his mates. Jethro has the ability to take us into his cocky confidence with a sort of Alfie-like charm. He leans close to let us in on his secrets. But unlike Alfie, this character's main interest is not in womanizing, but in what he conceives as a Robin Hood redistribution of wealth. In fact, there is almost a sort of sexual/moral innocence about Jethro, perhaps in keeping with the general tenor of the late 1940's. However, the narrative includes at least one steamy sex scene that will probably appeal to both men and women - to men for its rawness, its lack of romantic prelude; to women for its sensuality and female command, and for Jethro's aftermath of distaste with its lovelessness. Most of the book though is devoted to Jethro's capers. Author Tony Broadbent has an amazing repertoire of knowledge about a master creep's techniques. There are a lot of how-to tricks-of-the-trade revealed here, including ruses, ploys, and the proper use of gelignite. Broadbent even gets the details of lockpicking right, something that few TV and movie scripts did until very recently. Broadbent must either have done a LOT of research, or else had a misspent youth. Real-life people pepper these pages. You'll meet with David Niven and Ian Fleming, and hear inside information about the abdicated Duke of Windsor. Actually, the allegations made about the Duke's Nazi sympathies are so specific and shocking, I'm surprised that Broadbent isn't in danger of being sued by the Royal Family. However, perhaps considering England's free-wheeling tabloid traditions - anything goes. This is a jolly good read that will take you back to a time and place in such detail, that you'll feel you're walking with a glim lighting your way through post-War London.

Spectres in the Smoke is the first of the Jethro novels I have read. Like some of the other FelonyandMayhem titles it not only is a good mystery but gives a history lesson of Britain in Post WWII, Combined with stories like The Cambridge Theorem,and A Gathering of Saints it helps provide insight into the world of espionage and state secrets that helped shaped Britain and the world after WWII. The title character in Spectres is blessed with an unusual set of skills which get put to use by the British intelligence services to help save post war England from radical extremists. Jethro is a likeable character with a coterie of friends and associates who pop up at times in the story to provide help and information to help move the story along. Even though he is working for the Eton/Cambridge boys to save Britain from extremists he still manages to impart a criminal mind to his job which helps him succeed. I look forward to reading more of Jethro's adventures as this one was so enjoyable

The second book in the Jethro series is better than the first. The plot is more sophisticated and the range of characters introduced in the first book become more fully developed in this welcome sequel. There is tremendous period detail on every page and fascinating insight on what it was like to be in London after the war. It certainly was not all tea and crumpets for the common people. When you read this book, you'll not only be entertained, but educated as well.

Tony Broadbent just keeps getting better. (I hope this becomes a BBC movie or mini series because it would fit right into "Jerico," "Inspector Morse," "Foley's War," and "Prime Suspect.") I am enjoying this second book as much as I enjoyed the first.

This book explores a time and place not well covered in popular fiction - Britain just following the Second World War. The struggle with Germany had left this country destitute and exhausted, yet life went on. The Labor government tried to be all things to all people with little resources and the protagonist is dragooned into the dark corners of how this society must muddle on through. I have no idea if the details of London criminal society are at all authentic, but they seem so. The politics and economics are right in line with what history tells us. The characters are sympathetic and nuanced, motivations complex but sometimes noble. Violence is shown as ocasional but brutal and tension relieved at times by sardonic humor. Over all an engaging look at time usually out of our collective memory.