Snowline

Idwal Rees

by Berkely Mather

The "Snowline" is the smuggling route for morphine, from India to Marseilles. The drug is transported by hippies, organized by Indian and Italian crime syndicates. But recently the snowline has been cut, blocked off in Turkey; and a new route is being opened. The task of locating the new route falls to veteran agent Idwall Rees.The action begins explosively in Calcutta, becomes a pursuit across India to Bombay and climaxes in the Seychelles Islands. An exciting, humorous, vividly described adventure story.

253 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Berkely Mather was a British author who published fifteen novels and a book of short stories. He also wrote for radio, television and the movies. Berkely Mather was in fact the pseudonym of John Evan Weston-Davies, whose family, shortly before World War I, emigrated to Australia, where he received his education. Finding himself in England without prospects at the height of the Great Depression, he enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery, but failed to gain a commission. He therefore applied to join the Indian Army, in which he rose through the ranks, becoming a sergeant at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He served in the Iraq campaign under Slim, and ended the war as an acting lieutenant-colonel. After India gained independence in 1947, he rejoined the British Army, serving in the Royal Artillery until he retired in 1959.

Mather's first novel, The Achilles Affair (1959), was a minor best-seller, and his second, The Pass beyond Kashmir (1960), which received glowing reviews from Ian Fleming and Erle Stanley Gardner,did even better. Ernest Hemingway owned copies of both these novels. Mather's espionage thrillers can be read separately, but are linked to each other by recurring characters, in particular the sardonic and resourceful British agent Idwal Rees, who appears in The Pass Beyond Kashmir, The Terminators and Snowline. The author's military experience and years spent abroad give his work richness and depth. His last three novels were an ambitious trilogy that followed the fortunes of the Stafford family in the Near and Far East from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth.

Two of Mather's early books stand somewhat apart from the rest in that they are spin-offs from his work in other media. Geth Straker (1962) started out as a radio serial, hence the tag on the front cover: "Further daring exploits from the log of radio's trouble hunting mariner". The book contains four stories. Genghis Khan (1965) is a novelisation of the 1965 film of the same name, for which he had written the original story. Mather's other motion picture credits include The Long Ships and Dr. No.

In later years a leaning towards the historical turned him in the direction of the family saga, his final three novels - The Pagoda Tree (1979), Midnight Gun (1981) and Hour of the Dog (1982) - was a trilogy featuring the fortunes, and misfortunes, of a family in the Near and Far East from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th.

John Evan ("Jasper") Weston-Davies (Berkely Mather), writer: born Gloucester 25 February 1909; married 1938 Kay Jones (died 1991; two sons and one daughter deceased) died 7 April 1996.

Reviews

[Checkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast moving and breezy adventure tale. A post-imperial tale in which our intrepid British agent, Idwall Rees, and his faithful Pathan servant,Safaraz, battle Heroin smugglers and kick the shit out of hippies. It reads like a funnier version of a Hammond Innes or Alistair MacLean novel. I suppose there are aspects of the novel that are politically incorrect and dated, but who cares?

[Syd P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of its time, but oh so very fun. There is action, intrigue, disguise and the ultimate villain for our complex hero to fight and get involved with. I might just have to look out for more of this author.

[Philip Taffs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admired by Fleming, and found in Hemingway’s library,
Mather is a fine and often funny spinner of yarn 🧶

Wraps up a bit quickly at the end but an instructive and intriguing examination of many customs and curiosities of things Indian.