Miranda Must Die
A small section of British Intelligence in Whitehall.A break-in at a laboratory in a northern university town.Research on DNA and the possibilities of altering hereditary characteristics.A bland boffin in touch with a slightly suspect professor in Zurich.The boffin’s delicious daughter, a mathematician, who shares her father’s (not altogether admiring) views of Intelligence.
Anyone who thinks these ingredients look like the parts of a do-it-yourself kit for a modern thriller is reckoning without the unpredictable and high-spirited Henry Calvin. He takes the ingredients, shakes them together, and serves up a confection which keeps the reader guessing until the last page. Whose side is Dr. Cadder on? Is the drowning of a young student an accident or not? What of the missing girl student, presumed pregnant? These are some of the questions which plague the enthusiastic young Intelligence operative Bill Timmins, while the attractive mathematical daughter adds to the confusion by stirring his hormones and his suspicions simultaneously.
It is the intervention of Bill’s trigger-happy chief that provokes a denouement of gunfire, knife-play and bafflement, to round off the raciest and best Calvin to date.
Anyone who thinks these ingredients look like the parts of a do-it-yourself kit for a modern thriller is reckoning without the unpredictable and high-spirited Henry Calvin. He takes the ingredients, shakes them together, and serves up a confection which keeps the reader guessing until the last page. Whose side is Dr. Cadder on? Is the drowning of a young student an accident or not? What of the missing girl student, presumed pregnant? These are some of the questions which plague the enthusiastic young Intelligence operative Bill Timmins, while the attractive mathematical daughter adds to the confusion by stirring his hormones and his suspicions simultaneously.
It is the intervention of Bill’s trigger-happy chief that provokes a denouement of gunfire, knife-play and bafflement, to round off the raciest and best Calvin to date.
Published:
1968 London, Hutchinson1970 Zurich, Verlag Kurt Desch
Comments :“She’s one of the most attractive girls I’ve met for a long time. Don’t miss her.”The Guardian
“Immensely enjoyable; strongly recommended.”Sunday Times
“Light as home-cooked meringue and as sugar-sweet.”The Times
“In a joyous class of its own, surpassing anything Calvin’s done.”Northern Echo
“Immensely enjoyable; strongly recommended.”Sunday Times
“Light as home-cooked meringue and as sugar-sweet.”The Times
“In a joyous class of its own, surpassing anything Calvin’s done.”Northern Echo
- Copyright 2025 The Estate of Clifford Hanley