Thief Taker

Macrae and Silver #2

by Alan Scholefield

Once more we join detectives George Macrae and Leopold Silver in the continuing fight against crime…

Leo’s visiting his parents one Sunday while his girlfriend Zoe stays at home attempting to avoid the confrontational nature of her more-or-less in-laws.

That still doesn’t stop Leo’s parents from questioning him on whether he and Zoe are to be married any time soon.

Perhaps it was a smart move for her to stay at home…

Meanwhile, George is drunk and trying to chat up his now divorced, second wife; Mandy Parrish.

It’s no wonder both of George’s marriages have fallen apart.

While these two very different love-lives play out, Ronald Purvis or Ronnie as he prefers to be called is caring for his sick, alcoholic mother.

A convicted and recently released felon who has a keen interest in Nazi war memorabilia, he has a history with Leo’s girlfriend, Zoe.

A history that is going to come back and haunt her…

With a convicted felon terrorising Silver and his girlfriend, and Macrae struggling with the residue of two failed marriages, the last thing they need is the discovery of the corpse of a shipping tycoon in his London apartment.

As the murder investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that Macrae and Silver are not the only ones whose pasts have come back to haunt them…

Thief Taker is a gripping crime thriller filled with dramatic tension.

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Alan Scholefield was born in 1931 in Cape Town, South Africa. After leaving university he became a journalist and travelled widely in southern and central Africa, Europe, and America. He now lives in Hampshire with his wife and has three daughters. Most famous for his Macrae and Silver series, Scholefield has also written other novels, including Venom, which was made into a film in 1981.

Reviews

[Lindsey Blair · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second of this series I have read and I found it irritating in as much as the different settings all ran on from one another and it often took a few moments to realise that the scene had shifted. Silver and his girlfriend are quite well rounded and sympathetic characters, but Macrae is such a predictable persecuted maverick copper that I lose all sympathy for him. It will take a really good storyline to persuade me into the next book.

[Barbara Burnett · Rating 3 out of 5]

What aread had to keep going until I finished the book now started the second book Never Died in January hope it as good as the first

[Fatema Yahya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book.
Can't keep down.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robson Healey, businessman, has been killed. An unlikeable man reveals a few suspects. Detectives Macrae and Silver investigate meanwhile Leo Silver's girlfriend Zoe is still concerned about Ronald Purvis. Is he still in prison or has he been released.
An enjoyable modern mystery
Original published in 1991