Secombe (Endgame
) shows a flair for humor and quirky characters who provide more entertainment than the actual plot of this late 21st-century hard-boiled tale. Meet Jack Lindsay, one-time British war hero now stuck in a seedy office. His sidekick is the oddly misshapen Mango Pinkerton. Jack is counting the days until he can collect his pension, but first a beautiful woman employs him to find her missing husband and then Jack's brother, Freddy, now the police commissioner, appears to ask Jack to help find an assassin killing politicians worldwide. Once Jack suspects the two cases are linked, a wild chase ensues via intercontinental airships. The brothers' rivalry is intense and entertaining, and the threadbare story has just enough loose ends to raise the notion of sequels. (Mar.)
