About the authors: (wikipedia): Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office.
Major characters:
Good guys:
- Prince Achmed, in line for the throne
- Sayed, Achmed's son
- Hassan, Achmed's valet
- Lady Ross-Crockdale, the "Lost Crocodile"
Bad guys:
- Emil Abdul, next in line after Prince Achmed
- Sulman bin Boukhba, leader of the extremists
- Sampiero, a Corsican
- La Cigale, an assassin
- La Rose Bleue, "The Blue Rose"
- The Gravedigger / La Fossoyeur
And of course:
- Tommy Hambledon, British Intelligence
- William Forgan & Alexander Campbell, the model makers
- Inspector Antione Letord
Locale: France and Qathusn, a middle eastern kingdom
Synopsis: The Sultan of Qathusn is getting on in years, and people are antsy to know who will succeed him. His son, Prince Achmed, has the post all but wrapped up. His nephew, Emil Abdul, is next in line; and knows if he can eliminate Achmed he can be Sultan quite soon. British and Western interests hope for Achmed, who is friendly toward their oil interests. Emil Abdul, however, is tight with the extremists who wish to cut the British and the West off.
Achmed is poisoned at a reception and dies, alarming British intelligence as Emil Abdul is now much closer to the throne. There are rumors Achmed had a son in France, and if true, this son would be next in succession. Tommy Hambledon is assigned to find the son, if he exists.
The extremists, led by Sulman bin Boukhba, do all they can to thwart Hambledon. The climax comes at a conference in Quathusn, in which Hambledon's model maker friends, William Forgan and Alexander Campbell, impersonate two of the delegates in order to discredit Emil Abdul. They are joined by a larger-than-life journalist, Lady Ross-Crockdale, the "Lost Crocodile", in creating a chaos to their advantage.
Review: This is the penultimate (#24 of 25) Tommy Hambledon book, the series ceasing upon the passing of one of the authors (Adelaide Manning).
The setting may be the Middle East but the shenanigans are all Tommy Hambledon. Everything goes by the book until Tommy gets to France, and takes shelter with a farmer who will assist him if - quid pro quo - Tommy helps him out with over some quarantine restrictions on his circus elephant. Tommy, farmer, and elephant get stuck on a toll bridge in search of Achmed's son.
Tommy enlists the aid of his model maker hobbyists, Forgan and Campbell, and their presence always leads to more sub-rosa activities than Tommy is willing to instigate. Their method of disposing of the body of one of the bad guys will have the reader laughing.
The action moves to Qathusn where the Sultan is holding a conference. Forgan and Campbell are on their own, and strike up an alliance with Lady Ross-Crockdale; even though it is not really clear whose side -if any - she is on.
The characters are great. Forgan and Campbell are enough to steal the show from Tommy, even without Lady Ross-Crockdale.
The next book (#25), The House at Pluck's Gutter, will, sadly, close out the Tommy Hambledon series.
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