The Reed Stephens Novels

Stephen Donaldson is best known for his fantasy novels. This collection of three mysteries written under a pseudonym, out of print for some years, belong to his early published work and are well worth reviving. Set in an unnamed state in south-west America, they are lively, fast-moving and very entertaining. In each case the narrator is struggling alcoholic Mick 'Brew' Axbrewder, one half of a professional and emotional partnership offering security to people in real or imaginary danger. At six feet five inches Brew provides the brawn, Ginny Fistoulari the brain. In the first novel, The Man Who Killed His Brother, seven 13-year-old schoolgirls go missing and turn up dead, having been drugged and prostituted. When Brew's own niece narrowly escapes the same fate, all his detective instincts are alerted... The Man Who Risked His Partner takes Ginny and Brew deeper into the underworld of money and crime, and deeper into personal trouble. In The Man Who Tried to Get Away they literally take to the hills, accepting what appears to be a routine job acting as nominal security at an amateur murder weekend in a mountain hotel, where they soon become snow-bound - and participants in the fake murder mystery rapidly begin to appear as real corpses. Donaldson's prose is vivacious and colourful. He has a nice, unexpected turn of phrase and a good line in original metaphors and similes. The stories gallop along at a great rate and the atmosphere is nerve-twangingly tense. By the end, the main characters are old friends we'd like to meet again. (Kirkus UK)