Timothy's Game

Our eponymous hero returns in this second installment of the Timothy Series. In the first novella, Run, Sally, Run, Timothy Cone has been specifically recommended to determine where leaks in a company, Pistol and Burns, are coming from. A Case of the Shorts begins with the assassination of John Dempster, CEO of Dempster-Torrey. Haldering and Co. is retained, and Timothy is drafted to investigate why the company is a target for industrial sabotage. In the last novella, One From Column A, Chin Tung Lee, of the White Lotus label, assigns the investigative team to discover why anyone would speculate in such a conservative company. Oedipal lust to unbridled greed actuated by hatred are just a little of what we see in The Game. As usual, Timothy Cone cracks the cases with confidence and exaggerated bravado, leveraging on the knowledge of financial specialists, and his bevy of police informants. The whole cast from the Files are back, with some chaps added to compensate for the diversity of the new clientele. Most Sanders fans when reading about this shabby detective are apt to compare him unfavorably to the dapper McNally. They might just be mistaken. Actually, both characters do have their similarities: their snitches in the police department who believe in quid pro quo, their emphasis on appearances and location, as well as their queer relationships, and controlled humor. Yet Cone has his strengths. Here,the bad guys are unafraid to get their hands dirty; also, as each client is referred to Haldering and Co., there is a certain a continuity along stories. Moreover, since the focus is on financial institutions, a virgin forest in investigative fiction, we get to read a lot about the unheralded SEC. In Timothy's Game, Lawrence Sanders delivers sizzling stuff that should be enjoyed in it's own right.

I thought I was read all great writers for this misteries, crimes and all those, but Sanders has become one of my favourites ones (the first of course is Raymond Chandler). I'm going to read all his books!

This book is actually a collection of three stories about Wall Street investigator Timothy Cone. Originally issued in 1988, it was written when Lawrence Sanders was at the peak of his writing career (before he started insulting his fans by cranking out pot boilers). The stories concern various intrigues on Wall Street - insider trading, stock manipulation and short selling, and corporate takeovers and greenmail. The plots are well developed and well written, and the characters are interesting.

All the other so-called mystery writers should read Sanders' Timothys as Bible, but should not read any of his McNallys

The best Lawrence Sanders I've read so far. Timothy is an engaging character, and I think that's why I enjoyed the book so much