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Dan Mallett #3
Snare in the Dark
When gamekeeper Edgar Bland is killed with a crossbow, poacher Dan Mallett, who was setting snares at the time of the murder, is the only suspect
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
About the author
Frank Parrish
27 books2 followersThis is a pseudonym of Roger Erskine Longrigg
Roger Longrigg was a British author of unusual versatility who wrote both novels and non-fiction, along with plays and screenplays for television, under both his own name and eight other pseudonyms.
Born in Edinburgh into a military family, he was at first schooled in the Middle East, but returned to England as a youth and later read history at Magdalen College, Oxford. His early career took him into advertising, but after the publication of two comic novels took up writing full time in 1959.
He completed fifty five books, many under his own name, but also Scottish historical fiction as Laura Black; thrillers as Ivor Drummond (for which his chief character, Lady Jennifer Norrington was named by HRF Keating in The Times as ‘The true heir of James Bond’); black comedies as Domini Taylor; Frank Parish (which titles feature the adventures of Dan Mallett, a poacher who lives on the edges of legality) - and famously Rosalind Erskine – a name with which he hoaxed all for several years, and who appeared to write a disguised biography of what life was like in a girls boarding school where the classmates ran a brothel for boys from a nearby school. Erskine’s ‘The Passion Flower Hotel' became a bestseller and was later filmed.
Roger Longrigg’s work in television included ‘Mother Love’, a BBC mini-series starring Diana Rigg and David McCallum, and episodes of ‘Crown Court’ and ‘Dial M for Murder’.
He died in 2000, aged 70 and was survived by his wife, the novelist Jane Chichester, and three daughters.
Roger Longrigg was a British author of unusual versatility who wrote both novels and non-fiction, along with plays and screenplays for television, under both his own name and eight other pseudonyms.
Born in Edinburgh into a military family, he was at first schooled in the Middle East, but returned to England as a youth and later read history at Magdalen College, Oxford. His early career took him into advertising, but after the publication of two comic novels took up writing full time in 1959.
He completed fifty five books, many under his own name, but also Scottish historical fiction as Laura Black; thrillers as Ivor Drummond (for which his chief character, Lady Jennifer Norrington was named by HRF Keating in The Times as ‘The true heir of James Bond’); black comedies as Domini Taylor; Frank Parish (which titles feature the adventures of Dan Mallett, a poacher who lives on the edges of legality) - and famously Rosalind Erskine – a name with which he hoaxed all for several years, and who appeared to write a disguised biography of what life was like in a girls boarding school where the classmates ran a brothel for boys from a nearby school. Erskine’s ‘The Passion Flower Hotel' became a bestseller and was later filmed.
Roger Longrigg’s work in television included ‘Mother Love’, a BBC mini-series starring Diana Rigg and David McCallum, and episodes of ‘Crown Court’ and ‘Dial M for Murder’.
He died in 2000, aged 70 and was survived by his wife, the novelist Jane Chichester, and three daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 11, 2021
Dan Mallett, banker manque but poacher par excellence to his mother’s disgust, is a delightful rascal whose adventures in the 1970s English countryside involve crime, without too many gory details, usually an accusation of guilt which he has to prove unjustified, and some glorious descriptions of nature in all its rural senses. One of his talents is finding hair-brained methods of getting out of trouble, only to land himself deeper in the mud. Another is charming the human birds who may dream of catching him but know they never will, although most survive as loyal friends and occasional bedfellows.
Dan’s aim is to make enough money to fund his mother’s hip replacement operation privately because she flatly refuses to enter a public hospital. His bank, in a rabbit hole, is added to by selling the results of his poaching or thieving to willing and trusted customers, and his trusty bike he replaces periodically with ‘borrowed’ vehicles, often with the owners never finding out. In this adventure a series of odd clues bring attention to a local nursing home where inmates have equally odd bank account management events going on. It is all cleared up in the end but not without the occasional body and a very bumpy ride. Great fun and easy reading.
Dan’s aim is to make enough money to fund his mother’s hip replacement operation privately because she flatly refuses to enter a public hospital. His bank, in a rabbit hole, is added to by selling the results of his poaching or thieving to willing and trusted customers, and his trusty bike he replaces periodically with ‘borrowed’ vehicles, often with the owners never finding out. In this adventure a series of odd clues bring attention to a local nursing home where inmates have equally odd bank account management events going on. It is all cleared up in the end but not without the occasional body and a very bumpy ride. Great fun and easy reading.
January 1, 2009
Anti-hero Dan Mallett, a country lad-cum-poacher at heart, dons a Bankers disguise to unravel a murder for which he is the number one suspect. Initially on the wrong track, a perceptive thought turns him in the right direction and, with a little help from the love-interest of Juanita and his "second favourite girl" and her horse, he turns the case to his advantage and unravels the whole sordid tale. Very original with some great countryside scenes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews