In the Red

by Joan Fleming

After twenty years as a bank clerk, Leslie Williams can stand the daily round no longer. He plans a crime - nothing very heinous, nothing more than a little dishonesty and a lot of unkindness. Yet, once he has made the first fatal move, he finds himself gathered into a fantastic web of adventure, mischance and danger.The story takes place in the seedy hotel in Cromwell Road and the open-air market where he finds work as a salesman. And Leslie Williams is a man who has broken loose, who doesn't know quite what dangers are hunting him from the past, or what sense can be made of the present or future ...'Imaginative, lively and picaresque' Maurice Richardson

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Joan Margaret Fleming was a British writer of crime and thriller novels. She was educated at Lausanne University.

She married Norman Bell Beattie Fleming in 1932. The Turkish detective Nuri Bey Izkirlak features in two of her books, 'When I Grow Rich and 'Nothing is the Number When You Die'.

Her novel 'The Deeds of Dr Deadcert' was made into a film 'RX Murder'. She won the Gold Dagger award twice, for 'When I Grow Rich' in 1962 and for 'Young Man I Think You're Dying' in 1970.

She wrote 33 novels beginning with 'Two Lovers Too Many' in 1949 and ending with 'The Day of the Donkey Derby' in 1978.

Reviews

[Zelda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this book up because I couldn't find the James Bond book I was looking for and the cover on this one looked interesting. Everything happens in the 1950s(?) in London, so it's a pretty interesting perspective on how people acted at that time. Leslie, the main character, has finally gotten up his nerve to leave his wife, party because at 38 he's middle-aged (?!?) and needs to start over before it's too late. He makes all kinds of plans to move to France, create a new identity, and get on with his life, so that morning he wakes his wife early to tell her he's leaving her and goes to work as a bank teller. When it's time for his lunch break, he steals 100 pounds (what, like $50?), heads back to his flat for his already packed suitcase, and finds his wife dead of an overdose. He doesn't call the police, but he can't leave the country either. He gets a room at a residential hotel and that's where the story takes off. Well, takes off is a little more exciting that what happens. I thought this would be a light-hearted, fast-paced, action thriller / myster like James Bond but it's not. It was an interesting read, but I'm not sure I'd read any of her other books.

[Zoe Leadbeater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read if you like something not too taxing. I'd call it a holiday book. Quite a decent plot with a few twists and turns in it.