cover image Classic at Bay: A Case for Jack Colby, Car Detective

Classic at Bay: A Case for Jack Colby, Car Detective

Amy Myers. Severn, $28.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8608-8

Vintage car buffs will best appreciate Myers’s pedestrian eighth outing for British car detective Jack Colby (after 2015’s Classic in the Dock). Adora Ferne, a London cabaret singer who was notorious in the 1960s, wants to acquire one more classic Jaguar for her collection (she already has 12). Jack is prepared to broker the sale with the Earl of Storrington, the owner of the vehicle Adora covets. When the manager of Adora’s Jaguar collection is murdered shortly after the earl rejects her offer, Jack sets out to find a killer and a motive. He uncovers a close-knit group of Adora’s former and current admirers, as well as secrets surrounding the mysterious death of her fiancé 50 years before in 1964. Jack interviews many briefly sketched people about events that occurred at that time as he drives around the Kent countryside, but multiple points of view do little to quicken the pace or heighten the tension. [em]Agent: Sara Keane, Keane Kataria Literary (U.K.). (July) [/em]