Classic In the Clouds

December 3, 2012
In Myers’s lackluster third outing for Jack Colby (after 2012’s Classic Calls the Shots), the British “car detective” joins a scramble to find one of the two De Dion Boutons that took part in the famous Peking to Paris rally of 1907. Maj. Stanley Hopchurch, the “Mad Major,” asks Jack to locate the antique vehicle, which is rumored to be somewhere around Kent. If found, the car would be the centerpiece of a planned re-enactment of the rally with English towns dressed as the original far-flung locales. Jack accepts the assignment, while also helping regular contact Dave Jennings of the Kent Car Crime Unit to investigate auto restorer Alfred King’s suspicious death. The quest for the De Dion Bouton, meanwhile, only succeeds in opening a Pandora’s box of claimants, plotters, and murder. Exotic vehicles and car lore aplenty should appeal to auto buffs in this otherwise pedestrian whodunit. Agent: Dorothy Lumley, Dorian Literary.

January 15, 2013
A car collector and part-time police consultant's search for a famous car turns out to be quite a dangerous job. Maj. Stanley Hopchurch, aka the Mad Major, hires Jack Colby, who's always hard up for cash, to find a De Dion Bouton reputed to have been driven in the 1907 Peking to Paris car rally. The major and fellow trustees Julian Carter and Helen Palmer plan to restage the race in England, complete with towns dressed up as the original stops. The money raised will enable Carter to open Treasure Island, an impressive collection of classic cars that will form the basis for a new museum. In the meantime, the police have asked Jack to look into the suspicious death of classic car restorer Alfred King. Now that Alf is dead, dodgy businessman Connor Meyton is interested in buying out his business, which Alf's assistant Dean Warren has been running. Handsome Dean lures Zoe, one of Jack's restorers, to work with him. The move leaves Jack in the lurch and Zoe in danger. When Jack tracks down the woman who claims to own the De Dion, she refuses to sell even though her family insists that she collect the windfall. They're even more furious when the stubborn owner is murdered after leaving the car to a friend who's equally reluctant to sell it. With so many people desperate to lay claim to the car, Jack has his hands full trying to winkle out the murderer. Jack's third (Classic Calls the Shots, 2012, etc.) offers a complicated mystery along with the usual insights into the world of classic cars and their often loopy collectors.

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December 15, 2012
Myers provides another amiable autocentric mystery specifically designed to appeal to cozy fans and classic-car buffs. This time around, car detective Jack Colby is asked by Major Stanley Mad Major Hopchurch to dip back into the past to uncover one of the original five cars that participated in the legendary Peking-to-Paris motor rally of 1907. Hot on the trail of a vintage De Dion-Bouton automobile rumored to be kicking around somewhere in Kent, Colby sees his missing-car case temporarily stall when he stumbles across what might have been the murder of car-restoration specialist Alfred King. All roads lead to Paris as the mysteries merge and Colby races to reach the finish line before the killer can strike again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)