“The Fall Guy” by Simon Michael

Barrister Charles Holborne finds himself caught up in the world of 1960s pop music. 

An American pop group has started its British tour, the prelude to a longer European tour. A British promoter is handling both the British and European itineraries. That is, until a 15-year-old-girl is found dead where the pop group is staying, with a heroin needle hanging out of her arm. And it’s the promoter who’s charged with her death and related crimes.

 

Holborne smells a rat. This is a period when the London Metropolitan Police is riddled with corruption of all kinds – drugs, shakedowns, blackmail, and organized theft rings. Through his contacts, detectives, and friends, the attorney learn his client is innocent, but he’s going to have to dip into the criminal world of the police to prove. And that can be as dangerous as the “regular” criminal underworld itself.

 

But if the music promoter is willing, there’s an opportunity to rip the lid off the entire mess.

 

Simon Michael

The Fall Guy is the 10^th Charles Holborne legal thriller by British writer Simon Michael. It’s a doozy of a story, based like its predecessors on real events and real people (London’s police was indeed riddled with corruption in the 1960s). A former practicing attorney, Michael knows his police procedure, law, and criminal trials, and that understanding undergirds each of the Charles Holborne stories.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

Each of the Charles Holborne novels has been a consistently enthralling story. Michael draws his characters deeply and well, including the minor characters. Details matter. And the stories make you care about what’s happening, what should happen, and what will happen. The Fall Guy is yet another great story about crime, the law, and the people who try to navigate both – for good and for bad.

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

 

My review of The Final Shot by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Nothing But the Truth by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of Death, Adjourned by Simon Michael.

 

Some Monday Readings

 

The shameful wat the BBC covers the migrant protests – Chris Middleton at The Critic Magazine.

 

Neil Postman’s Tips for Tech – Joshua Pauling at Modern Age.

 

Tindals Burying Ground (Bunhill Fields) – A London Inheritance.

 

Sweet Thames run softly while I sing my song – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

"Death, Adjourned" by Simon Michael

Times have changed rather dramatically for barrister Charles Holborne. The Kray twins, London’s premier gangsters of the 1960s, are behind bars, and better still, they were tricked into giving up the hold they had over Charles. He’s proposed to Sally, his girlfriend, and the wedding appears to be sooner rather than later. He’s even thinking about becoming Queen’s Counsel, or “taking silk,” as the British call it. Not bad for a Jewish boy who grew up rough and tumble in the East End. 

A wealthy building developer and his son are accused of forcibly removing tenants in the path of a new housing development project. One tenant, in fact, was itched though a second-floor window, bundled up in the back of truck, and taken away. A local thug has admitted to participating under the direction of the developer’s son. And the developer calls upon Charles to defend them both.

 

The case is more complicated than it looks. The developer is a survivor of Auschwitz, as is his wife. The son is borderline autistic (although this is earlier than autism becoming an official diagnosis). A crooked policeman is involved. And neither of Charles’s clients are telling him the complete truth, as if they’re protecting someone else. Did they really do what they’re accused of? Or are they being framed?

 

Simon Michael

Death, Adjourned is the 9^th Charles Holborne legal suspense novel by British author Simon Michael, and it’s a welcome addition to the series as well as something of a departure. For once, the specter of the Kray twins doesn’t overhang the story. There’s a hint they may play a role in the future, but for now, the murderous Krays are safely behind bars, their criminal empire being divided up and fought over.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

Death, Adjourned is a riveting story. Michael knows exactly how to build suspense to fever pitch and throw in significant courtroom drama along the way. And here’s hoping for No. 10!

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

 

My review of The Final Shot by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Nothing But the Truth by Simon Michael. 

 

Some Monday Readings

 

E.O. Hoppe’s Londoners – Spitalfields Life.

 

481 – artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher. 

 

An Enduring Song: Remembering A Canticle for Leibowitz – Bethel McGrew at Miller’s Book Review.

 

This Fiction Business: Revisiting the wisdom of the king of the pulps – Frank Theodat at Ink & Grit: Masters of Pulp Fiction. 

 

Winners and Losers – Brian Miller at A South Roane Agrarian.

"Nothing But the Truth" by Simon Michael

For more than a decade, the Kray Twins ruled London’s underworld. From the late 1950s to the late 1960s, identical twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray ran what they called “The firm,” involved in just about every criminal activity there was – drugs, prostitution, gambling, protection rackets, and more. The Krays are the subject of numerous books and five films. including “Legend” in 2015, starring Tom Hardy as both the twins. 

The Krays also have a somewhat starring role in the Charles Holborne legal thrillers by British author Simon Michael. And in the recently published eighth book in the series, Nothing But the Truth, the Krays finally meet justice – with a little help from Holborne.

 

Scotland Yard has had enough of the Krays – and Detective Superintendent Leonard Read has a highly secretive operation underway to nab them. It’s based away from Yard headquarters – the Krays have a lot of the police force on the payroll. When they’re arrested for involvement in a murder, they turn to defense attorney Charles Holborne. Like the Krays, he’s East End born and raised. His birth name is actually Horowitz; he changed it in an effort to escape his Jewish and East End roots. But those roots have a habit of ensnarling his feet. The simple fact is that the Krays have a file on Holborne – enough to get him disbarred and sent to prison.

 

Simon Michael

A Kray cousin is set up to take the fall for the murder rap, and it’s Holborne’s assignment to get him to plead guilty or defend him in such a way that he’s convicted. But there are some things Holborne simply cannot do, even if it means disobeying the Krays. What follows is one of the best literary sleights-of-hand that I’ve read in a very long time. 

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

Nothing But the Truth has the feel of a final volume in the Charles Holborne series, as it’s difficult to imagine Holborne without the Krays breathing down his neck at every turn. But if Simon can write a story with such a delightfully unexpected turn as this one, I’m confident he can figure out how to keep Holborne moving ahead.

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

 

My review of The Final Shot by Simon Michael.

"The Final Shot" by Simon Michael

Attorney Charles Holborne briefly has a case that even he knows is hopeless. A rather notorious criminal found religion in prison and became a Church of England minister upon release. He’s been working diligently in his chosen mission field in London, and he’d been trying to get a boy’s club set up to help steer teenagers in the right direction. But a man was killed, the minister charged on both evidence and a supposed confession and convicted. Charles looks at the case and agrees there’s no room for an appeal. 

But he buys a car from the minister’s son, who operates a dealership, and that sets in motion a train of events that will lead to violence, murder, and the doors to the Kray Twins, legendary crime czars in London in the 1950s and 1960s (the Krays happen to be historical figures). And in 1966, all of this is happening while England is heading to the final game of the World Cup.

 

His personal life is vastly improving. His former girlfriend sally is now his full-fledged girlfriend again; the two are living together and remodeling an old home not far from Charles’s chambers in the Temple. But his mother is increasingly in the grip of dementia, and his father is having trouble trying to care for her, even though he refuses to hear any talk of a care home. 

 

Simon Michael

What the reader of The Final Shot, the seventh Charles Holborne mystery by Simon Michael, knows is what Charles does not but only suspects: the murder victim for which the minister was sent to prison is very much alive. And the Kray Twins are behind it all, which may make it very problematic for Charles, who has his own problems, and entanglements, with the Krays.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

The Final Shot is another solid entry in the Charles Holborne series, full of detail about the period when the Beatles were changing popular culture, Allen Ginsburg was reading his poetry, and LSD was a new entrant on the drug scene. 

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Force of Evil by Simon Michel.

"Force of Evil" by Simon Michael

London barrister Charles Holborne, formerly known as the Jewish East End boxer Charles Horowitz, meets his good friend Detective Sergeant Sean Sloane at a pub for a drink. Charles and Sloane have a lot in common; both have strong stubborn streaks, and both have a certain prejudice against corrupt politicians and police officers. It’s the mid-1960s. Despite his courtroom success, Charles is an outsider in his profession, because of his profession and the stain of being too friendly with the wrong kind of crowd. Sloane, too, is an outsider, an Irish cop working for the London Met who finally got his transfer out of the corrupt Vice Division.  

Sloane may have transferred out, but both he and Charles are about to get sucked into a case that involves stolen goods from the Royal Air Force, two murders, the gangs running London’s underworld, and police corruption that makes the Vice Division look clean.  As they leave the pub, they see someone checking nearby rail cars – someone who shouldn’t be. Sloane gets severely beaten up; the villain is allowed to go free by the apprehending officer. The detective sergeant recovers at a local hospital, and he finds himself becoming interested in his attending physician, Dr. Irenna Alexandrova, who fled South Africa after her parents were jailed by the apartheid regime. 

 

Despite being told to stop his investigation into the railyard incident, Sloane continues, while developing a relationship with the doctor. Soon, she’s framed and arrested by police officers attempting to pressure Sloane. If she’s convicted, she’ll be deported to South Africa, where she probably faces death.  Charles takes on her legal case. The attorney is also juggling his blown-up relationship with his former girlfriend and working with his brother to figure out a solution to their mother’s failing memory.

 

Simon Michael

Force of Evil is the sixth Charles Holborne legal thriller by British author Simon Michael, and it’s every bit as good as its outstanding predecessors. Michael draws upon his own legal background to tell his stories, and it’s fascinating to watch the twists and turns each story takes.

 

Michael studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

Force of Evil builds quickly, with tension mounting as the story moves toward the courtroom drama of a case brought against an innocent woman by corrupt police officers. It’s a top-notch story by one of the best writers in the genre today.

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

 

My review of The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael.

"The Waxwork Corpse" by Simon Michael

Charles Holborne, World War II hero, Cambridge graduate, and now a London barrister, grew up in London’s East End as Charlie Horowitz, son of a Jewish tailor, would-be boxer, and a young man unafraid to use his fists. With a growing defense practice spilling over to other attorneys in his chambers, Charles finds himself in an odd position. He’s being asked to prosecute a case for the Crown, and at first the solicitor bringing the case to him won’t tell him the name of the person being scrutinized for possible wrongdoing. 

The person turns out to be a high court judge. The crime is the murder of his wife, whose body has just been found submerged in a lake. She disappeared more than a decade before. The woman flaunted her affairs with a succession of men, she treated their children shabbily at best, and she alienated virtually everyone who came into contact with her. The judge had borne her infidelities for years; what could have made him kill her at that particular time? 

The home where the crime likely occurred had been sold to other people, but the police tear it apart, looking for evidence of murder. And they find it. The judge is charged, and the parties proceed to trial. Charles’s life becomes a bit more complicated when a man from his past recognizes him as someone who likely beat his friend to death during the London Blitz. And the man tries his hand at blackmail. 

Simon Michael

The Waxwork Corpse by Simon Michael is the fifth in the Charles Holborne mystery and suspense series, and it’s a fascinating turn for the London barrister. As the trial is set to begin, his father moves in with him, separating from Charles’s mother after decades of marriage. Charles has been estranged from his family; they’re observant Jews and he likes nothing better than a bacon sandwich. Cut off from the family for marrying a Gentile wife, a reconciliation has only recently been brought about. But things still are tense.

 

The author manages all of these threads expertly, winding them through each other so skillfully that the story seems less a mystery novel and more like literary fiction.

 

Michael is the author of five novels in the Charles Holborne series, with a sixth set to be published in November. He studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

The Waxwork Corpse is likely the best mystery in the Charles Holborne series, and that’s saying a lot, giving the quality of the stories that preceded it. 

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.

 

My review of Corrupted by Simon Michael.

"Corrupted" by Simon Michael

Reading Corrupted, the fourth in the Charles Holborne suspense series by Simon Michael, created a sense of “this sounds vaguely familiar.” The story is partially about a scandal that happens with UK politicians in the 1960s. But there have been so many scandals involving British (and American) politicians that I wrote off the sense of familiarity as likely due to something I reads in the newspaper. But when I reached the end of the story, I discovered that Michael based this story on real events and real people, even going so far as to use the real names for some of the characters. 

I was right. I had read about it in the newspaper. That’s why it seemed so familiar.

 

It’s the mid-1960s. Holborne, a World War II hero and a Cambridge graduate, is a highly successful barrister. He works for a law chambers that handles mostly criminal cases, and his success in both defending and prosecuting criminal cases makes him something of a “rain man” for his colleagues. But several of them would still like to see him gone. They don’t like his reputation, and they don’t like the fact that, before he was Charles Holborne, he was Charles Horowitz, an East End Jewish boy who knew a lot of rough-and-tumble days. 

 

A “rent boy” Holborne helped in a previous story shows up at his office with 100 pounds, asking him to take on the case of a 15-year-old boy accused of murder. The usual process is to go to a solicitor first, who then contacts a barrister, so Holborne has to do some quick stepping to get the procedure worked out correctly. The boy charged with the crime seems completely resigned to his fate, and only gradually does Holborne draw him out into explaining what happened. 

 

Simon Michael

What Holborne learns is that his ongoing collective nemesis, the gangster Kray Twins, are involved, and they want the boy dead. The boy knows way too much about two members of Parliament, one Conservative and one Labour, and if his story goes public it will bring down the government. 

 

Corrupted weaves a story that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go. 

 

Michael is the author of five novels in the Charles Holborne series, with a sixth set to be published in November. He studied law at Kings College, London University and was called to the Bar in 1978. He worked primarily in the field of criminal law until the late 1990s, when he focused his practice on clinical negligence. He began writing in the 1980s and resumed it when he retired from legal practice.

 

The author’s knowledge of the law informs the courtroom scenes, as it has in the previous novels. Watching the back-and-forth and the brilliant work done by Holborne before the judges is simply captivating. Corrupted joins the previous Charles Holborne novels as an outstanding suspense novel. 

 

Related:

 

My review of The Brief by Simon Michael.

 

My review of An Honest Man by Simon Michael. 

 

My review of The Lighterman by Simon Michael.