As plain-clothes men go, Dangerous Davies looks like a non-starter. The small fry of petty larceny and minor disturbances in the backwaters of north-west London are his daily round. His philosophising Welsh drinking companion Mod, his outsized and unruly dog Kitty, his quarrels with his landlady Mrs Fulljames - none of these bodes well for the efficient solving of crimes and the outwitting of villainy. But Davies is encouraged by his beautiful friend Jemma, and every so often he stumbles upon something really big.
As plain-clothes men go, Dangerous Davies looks like a non-starter. The small fry of petty larceny and minor disturbances in the backwaters of north-west London are his daily round. His philosophising Welsh drinking companion Mod, his outsized and unruly dog Kitty, his quarrels with his landlady Mrs Fulljames - none of these bodes well for the efficient solving of crimes and outwitting of villainy. But Davies is encouraged by his beautiful friend Jemma, and every so often he stumbles upon something really big. Gathered together for the first time in one volume, here are Leslie Thomas's three books about the most endearing comic hero he has ever created.
A northwest London detective tackles a twenty-five-year-old missing persons case in this comic crime novel. Dangerous Davies, you understand, earned his nickname in the same way that fat men nicknamed “Tiny” earn theirs. But while he may not inspire dread in the hearts of London’s bad guys, he is nevertheless on the side of right and good, and has a copper’s badge to prove it. True, he is known as the “last detective” —not because there are no others like him, but because he is, in nearly every instance, the last boy picked for the team (although his dog does like him). With little actual work to do, Dangerous has plenty of time to pick through the cases that everybody else has forgotten. And when he stumbles across a real piece of ancient history, it looks like the perfect way to keep him out of trouble and out of the real coppers’ way. Originally published in 1976, this is the first novel in the Dangerous Davies series, which was subsequently adapted for television in the UK; it was also made into a movie in 1981. “Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good detective yarn with plenty of laughs.” —Daily Express (UK) “Splendid comic writing.” —Daily Mail (UK)
Dangerous is back... In this, the fourth of Leslie Thomas's novels about Dangerous Davies, the last detective, Davies has retired from the Metropolitan Police and set up as a private eye. Cases are hard to come by until he is aburptly thrown into two mysteries - the murders of women answering lonely hearts advertisements, and the disappearance of a young girl student, a psychologist and a secret worth millions. But can Davies solve any of the mysteries and will his new career as a private detective be a success? People with the amazing characters that are the trademark of any book by Leslie Thomas, this is a highly original detective story that is as ingenious as it is touching and funny.
In the seedier sprawl of London's northwest frontier, he's the copper who gets all the scruffy jobs & manages to make them scruffier. He's Dangerous Daivies, the Last Detective. When Dangerous is allocated a murder case, it proves to be a twenty-five year old sex crime. His witnesses range from a veteran of the Zulu Wars to a bloke who thinks he's Peter the Great & the mightily endowed Ena Lind, cat-suit wearer & creme-de-menthe drinker. Exhibit A is the pair of pale green knickers that the victim wasn't wearing
'It rained a lot and steamed when the sun shone. It was always hot. But it was safe...' One way or another the Communist guerrilla war in Malaya kept a whole British army occupied from 1948 until 1952. They were the virgin soldiers. Idle, homesick, afraid, bored, oversexed and unsatisfied. A young virgin like Brigg had to grab his fun while and where he could - in the Liberty Club, in Juicy Lucy's flat or up in Phillipa's room - in one frantic attempt at living before he died or got demobbed...
At the start of the war in 1939 James Bevan is a junior officer approaching middle-age, attached to a small anti-aircraft unit on the south coast. Abandoned by his wife, the soldiers he command are his family: Bairnsfather, whose sexual encounters with his girl friend Muriel take place in an air-raid shelter; Cartwright, trying to keep two women on his gunner's pay of a shilling a day; Hignet, cosily educating himself in the orderly room. It is a rude awakening when they are called upon for the real war. Hugely absorbing, rich and rewarding, Other Times brims with history and experience, love, sorrow and humour.
In the spring of 1940, the spectre of war turned into grim reality. And on the English home front, men, women and children found themselves swept into a maelstrom of fear and uncertainty while events abroad led inexorably from the debacles of Norway and Dunkirk to the horror and glory of the Battle of Britain. For the Lovatt family - James, seconded on a hush-hush assignment to work with Churchill, and his brother Harry, a naval officer - for Bess Spofford, Joanne Schorner, Graham Smit and all the inhabitants of the history villages of the New Forest, it was the beginning of the most bizarre, funny and tragic episode of their lives.
