cover image Tinplate

Tinplate

Neville Steed. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-312-00196-4

Peter Marklin, who left advertising when his wife left him, barely makes a living from his hobby of collecting old toys. Specializing in old tinplate, Marklin is sent to France to pick up a collection in mint condition, which is stolen on the ferry back home to England. With an ultimatum from the client to recover the toys or return the 22,000, Marklin sets about finding the thief. A parallel plot involves a local debate over digging up a shot-down Spitfire from a nearby field. How the mysteries surrounding the toys and the World War II airplane come together is an intriguing aspect of this smoothly written novel from a veteran writer. An engaging fellow with a pet cat and some admirably eccentric friends in his adopted coastal town, Marklin also has brains and a pleasantly low-key approach to life. Romance, a friendship with a toy-collecting detective from Scotland Yard and just enough information about old tinplate toys make this a promising start to a series. (March 23)