Democracy
Postcard From Jerry, Part Seven
‘Shabby!’ Myself, my assistant Miss Blod, and a diminutive figure in Muslim dress, who has just revealed her face with a swipe of a delicate brown arm, are at the bottom of the fire stairs [more…]
Mystery
Democracy
Postcard From Jerry, Part Six
A perspiring Prime Minister called for coffee time at Number 10 North. My companion, Miss Blod, and I circulated, made small talk and nodded. There seemed little need for any great subterfuge, despite the fact [more…]
Democracy
Postcard From Jerry, Part Five
“Hi guys, welcome to Manchester. My name’s Andy. Yes, yes, I know, the prime minister. These things ’appen. Repeat after me: Fatcher, Liz Truss crashed the economy.” Mr Burnham stood before us in a floor-tiles, [more…]
Literature
Postcard From Jerry, Part Four
A Tokyo love hotel cuddling a pristine metro station would have been ideal. But hard to find in a de-industrial northern English town during the twilight zone that lies between last orders and sunrise. Usually [more…]
Mystery
Postcard From Jerry, Part Three
One can never tire of Jerry Westerby, an old-school Fleet Street soak with a rugby forward’s build but a talent for wicket-keeping before the call of sports journalism pulled him away from the crease and [more…]
Fiction
Postcard From Jerry, Part Two
Destination? Open ground halfway between the Oval and the Thames. Alert state? Heat wave – meteorological and political. The grass has given up pretending to be grass; dusty cardboard with the occasional flattened mat of [more…]
19th Century
The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 6/6: The Giant Rat of Sumatra. Part 2 of 2
Part One can be read here: The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 6/6: The Giant Rat of Sumatra. Part 1 of 2 The following afternoon, replete with Mrs Hudson’s game pie and gooseberry fool, we found [more…]
19th Century
The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 5/6: The Wolf Man of Mayfair. Part 2 of 2
Part One can be read here: The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 5/6: The Wolf Man of Mayfair. Part 1 of 2 It was fortunate for us that George lived only a few minutes’ brisk trot [more…]
19th Century
The Scrapbook of Sherlock Holmes, 6/6: The Giant Rat of Sumatra. Part 1 of 2
In a record of one of our previous cases, to which I gave the somewhat lurid title ‘The Sussex Vampire’, my friend described the episode of the so-called Giant Rat of Sumatra as something ‘for [more…]