A Dangerous Age

Wine merchant William Warner (last seen in A Lethal Vintage ) is taking a postprandial walk on Dartmoor when someone shoots at him. He succeeds in outwitting his pursuer, who dies in a bog after implying that there are others out to get Warner. While trying to determine why anyone would want to kill himthere could be some connection with his wartime commando trainingWarner turns for aid to his mistress, journalist Ginny Duff-Jones, and for information to his old school friend, Edward Dundas of the Department of Industry. Deciding not to involve the police, Warner's investigations lead to a mysterious industrialist, Walter Loewenfeld, whose company, Protoplastics, has highly automated factories that seem suspiciously immune to industrial unrest. Action switches to Wales and France, and violence and death ensue before Warner can uncover the secret behind the attempts on his life; he is rescued from a perilous situation by his understanding French wife, Claudine. While Warner is not a particularly likable character, and his relationships with women seem primarily to involve past, present or future sex, Sylvester writes a colorful tale, with good suspense and local color. The quotations from Clausewitz that head each chapter are a bit pretentious. ( September)