Flesh Wounds (Inspector Troy Series) Book

FLESH WOUNDS opens with a scene from BLACK OUT (1995), and then skips 10 years ahead to 1959 and gang wars sparked by a fictionalized version of the notorious Kray twins. The psycho-killers twins are avatars of what the "Polish Beast," Dr. Kolankiewicz calls "the moral decay we can expect in post-war life" (p30).

Troy suffers yet another major concussion, which sidelines the often-wounded detective for much of the novel and unleashes a parade of current and ex-lovers. (The Scotland Yard copper has had more head injuries than Merril Hoge and as many lovers as Joe Namath!) He acquires a driver, Constable Mary McDiarmuid, who promises to be a welcome addition to Team Troy. Central to the plot is the surprise reappearance from the USA of Troy's old flame Kitty Stilton after "seventeen years, ten months, three weeks …" (p76)--but, who's counting? Now married to a presidential prospect, Kitty is earnestly tailed around London by a New York City gumshoe who seems as theatrically dumb and obvious as Lt. Columbo--but, at least he's paying attention, which Troy doesn't do for much of the story.
FLESH WOUNDS is full of cynicism about politics and political parties ("Jam Forever!"), about urban renewal and police corruption. Insightful for a moment, one of Troy's wicked twin sisters tells him something that applies equally to his romantic life and to his police method: "Your trick is to let things happen. To let things take their course" (p330). Our dark-minded, rather misanthropic series hero hasn't changed much from 1938 to 1959. However, one transformation during FLESH WOUNDS is very important. Once a notoriously bad marksman, Troy has taken lessons from master gunsmith Bob Churchill (Inspector Troy, #4) and become a crack shot with just about every model of handgun made-- a handy skill, even if you disdain firearms, when you're going after two gun-crazy psycho-killers!

(PERSONAL TIRADE: Largely to spite Amazon.com, I prefer reading books checked out from the public library. This can be a problem when a previous borrower has marked up the book--in heavy black ink, no less! My borrowed copy of FLESH WOUNDS is filled with underlinings and squiggles where British argot has confounded some anonymous previous reader. Words and phrases like "spag bol," "down the nick," "elevenses," "karzey" and "punters." Irritating, unconscionable and impossible to ignore.)