Kidnapped! by Morris Hershman (writing as Norman Hunt) Subject: Crime Publisher: Gryphon Publications (USA) Edition Our Price inc. p&p Status Gryphon Crime Novel #3: first edition trade paperback, 123pp, ISBN 0936071877, 1997 UK: £9.95 Europe: £11.42 USA: £12.99 Elsewhere: £12.99 in stock

Presenting the best in classic crime writing, the Gryphon Crime Series showcases work by some of the best names in crime writing. Classic work from the great years. All books are trade paperbacks with stunning full-colour dustjackets be master artist Ron Turner. Each book also features an introduction by a new or classic crime author.

And here is Kidnapped!, a title Robert Louis Stevenson made famous a century ago about a far different time and place. Morris not only shares the title with him, he matches RLS with a solid masterful example of storytelling craftsmanship. In a very loud and clear first person positively.

I won't give away the plot of this Golden Oldie, but I will tell you this: if you're brave enough to think you've read every variation on the hoary old theme, you've got another thing coming. Kidnapped! is pure Chandler country with enough Hammett-like characters to justify its inclusion among the better works of the hardboiled school. The similes and metaphors are all in fine working order, and get the job done with resonance and style. Barney Grant, hotel dick, is a solid male lead of the old school and this familiar territory even in the late Fifties was certainly still very far from the overwhelming glut it's in nowadays.

(from the introduction by Michael Avallone)

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