Classic in the Pits

February 10, 2014
Classic car enthusiasts will best appreciate Myers’s fifth mystery featuring Jack Colby (after 2013’s Classic Mistake). Colby, who runs a car restoration business and freelances for the Kent Police Car Crime Unit, is dismayed to learn that the Old Herne Club for Motoring and Flying Enthusiasts is closing soon. Meanwhile, the police have asked him to look into the theft of a classic Porsche that belongs to the Old Herne’s manager. The stakes rise with the discovery of a body, “very bloody, very mangled,” during the club’s annual party, called the Swoosh. Readers should be prepared for a middling mystery and an unmemorable lead. And the author’s passion for the world of cars just doesn’t get transmitted to those who lack it (e.g., “a De Dion Bouton driven side by side with a stately Lancaster and sporty Austin-Healey was a mesmerizing sight”). Agent: Dorothy Lumley, Dorian Literary Agency (U.K.).

June 24, 2013
Two cases preoccupy amiable Jack Colby in Myers’s engaging fourth mystery featuring the classic car expert (after 2012’s Classic in the Clouds). Jack’s spoiled, demanding ex-wife, Eva, who ran off with Mexican musician Carlos Mendez 20 years earlier and has now returned to Maidstone, Kent, needs Jack’s help. Carlos’s body has turned up on the River Medway towpath. Meanwhile, attractive Daisy Croft wants Jack to find her stolen Morris Minor, which she calls “Melody.” In amusing and confusing fashion, Daisy’s car is repeatedly found only to disappear just as often. With Eva’s arrest for Carlos’s murder, Jack has to revisit Carlos’s old band mates and a long-ago robbery in an effort to prove her innocence. Dotty archeologist Ambrose Fairbourne and Daisy’s unusual “gran,” Belinda Fever, provide enigmatic clues. A wealth of classic car lore adds to the fun. Agent: Dorothy Lumley, Dorian Literary Agency (U.K.).

March 1, 2014
A stolen Porsche and a murdered man add up to another case for Jack Colby, car detective. Jack is appalled to hear that Old Herne's, a center for classic cars and aviation activities, may be closing down. Before that happens, Jack, a consultant to the police in Kent, England, is asked to investigate the theft of the famous racing Porsche belonging to Mike Nelson, the incompetent manager of Old Herne's. Jack turns up at Swoosh, which will probably be the last great event held at the club. But when Mike is found killed by an ax and run over by the antique Crossley fire truck that had once served the former RAF base, Jack turns to investigating his murder. Old Herne's was founded by two interconnected families, the Howells and the Nelsons. American billionaire and former WWII Thunderbolt pilot Arthur Howell may have tired of providing the money the Nelsons are pouring down the drain. The murdered man was the son of Ray Nelson, the widower of 1940s singing sensation Miranda Pryde. Her grandson Jason is doing very well, updating her famous songs for a new generation, and he and his band performed at Swoosh. Mike's widow, Anna, better known as Boadicea, insists that she's entitled to either the car or the insurance money. Jack, who must consider both Jason and Anna possible suspects in the theft, turns an altogether different eye on Jessica Hart, the attractive new hire who's supposed to get Old Herne's back in the black, despite his continued attachment to Louise, the beautiful film star who dumped him. When Anna is attacked, Jack digs even deeper into the tangled pasts of the two families whose younger members are fighting for control of Old Herne's. The complexities of the case play into Myers' strength in dealing with complicated relationships (Classic Mistake, 2013, etc.). The result is a twisty tale packed with auto lore and family secrets.

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August 1, 2013

Jack has his hands full investigating two cases, one involving his ex-wife, and the other involving a stolen car. In this fourth entry from Myers (after Classic in the Clouds), Jack unearths more family history than expected.

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