To respect member's privacy and keep things awesome, most of Litsy is hidden from Google. We let humans see and share pages, but not machines. Find out more.
Ricky Alleyn, who first appeared in Spinsters in Jeopardy, is now 21 and has taken himself to a secluded island to write a novel. Or think about writing a novel. Or look for distractions so he can avoid writing a novel. The distractions abound, mostly in the form of colorful local characters, so all is beer and skittles until Ricky stumbles across a murder and then gets himself kidnapped. Which is too bad for Ricky (and the murder-victim), but dandy for the reader, as it brings Inspector Alleyn to the island, and he’s on top form. A subtheme involving drug-running may strike a jarring note, but remember, Last Ditch was first published in 1977, and as such, it offers a remarkable look at what happens when the characters and conventions of the Golden Age fetch up in the distinctly tarnished recent past.
Working my way through the later Alleyns. It‘s interesting to see Marsh trying to move with the times - even if she‘s ignoring Roderick‘s advancing age!
Last Ditch: Roderick Alleyn #29 | 
pick
