Friendly Fire: A story of Prince Albert's Troop: Volume 4 (George Ashley Mysteries)

All of the above emanate warmly from this, the fourth in Glynn Jenkins' series of novels about Gunner Tom Noad and his private detective uncle, George Ashley. The writer is relaxing into his control of their adventures, whilst retaining his eye for detail and his ability to craft elegant and effective descriptions.Jenkins' affection and respect for the Army way of life remain apparent, and this time he extends these to the Army Cadet movement and their school staff Officers. He clearly "knows whereof he writes" (as the blurb also informs us), and manages to achieve a detached amusement as he observes the differences between regular Army training and that required of Cadet Force Officers - writing of their induction programme at Frimley as "this most amateur of courses" and having Tom reflect that he "had devoted three of the toughest months of his life to earning the right to be part of the Royal Artillery [and now he was] sitting next to an overweight half-wit who had blundered his way into a Cadet Force Commission and wore the famous gun and Ubique motto on his shapeless beret."Other characters' attitudes are less objective, and there is bitchiness, snobbery and meanness in evidence amongst several of them. The slight problem of difficulty with female characters has been avoided (or solved?) this time, however, by having none whatsoever in the novel!

I really admire this author's ability to take us into a completely unfamiliar background and to make it understandable and familiar without once dropping the pace or thread of the storyline. Lovely to meet out old friends the Toms and George again and a very clever denoument.

Great chronology of bed time reading!

The setting is one not too many people know about, which gives this author an advantage: he's had the experience first hand and it shows. "Prince Albert's Troop" is fictional but based on The King's Troop, RHA, a battery of the real Royal Artillery which performs traditional ceremonies on horseback for the public in London. All the trademarks of an ordinary mystery story--the murder, the detective work, the crime scene investigation, and the vetting of the suspects--take place within this setting, and what comes out is not only the exquisite pacing of a superb crime thriller, but all the elements of an authentic, British, all-male horse troop (NOT cavalry, we hasten to point lest we be severely chastised by Lance Bombardier Green). The tauntingly slow build-up to the solution of the crime--and what a crime!--is built against a backdrop of the witty, ironic "locker-room humor" (read "horsebox humour") of the men, their eating and drinking habits, their passion for perfection in the appearance of their saddles, horses, and uniforms, and ultimately, their horsemanship and preservation of the trenchant and sacred troop traditions they all hold dear. What sort of victim would such a book then hold forth? Wouldn't it be someone who just does not fit in with all of this? Who is in fact an insult to it? That is the closest thing to a clue we'll give you, for that is another bonus: the reader gets to figure out not only who done it, but to whom it is to be done! The characters are three dimensional, authentic English history flows out of every corner , forensics and ballistics are detailed to a satisfying degree, and there is chief sleuth George Ashley (featured in the memorable "A Ceremonial Death," by the same author) quietly taking it all in and mulling it over while his sidekick Edward stirs him yet another gin and tonic--meanwhile, the military police (the "red hats") are running around like chickens with their heads off, getting it all wrong but once again: what is not to love about this book? It is a man's book definitely, but all those girls who love horses and the men that ride them? They'll love it even more. Maybe the only person who wouldn't find this a first-rate read would be.....the victim. And who would that be? You'll have to figure that out yourself--and then, only then, who done it.

A good Christmas read!The combination of detective fiction and military humour is most appealing The cast of characters is well-written, with the author painting some excellent portraits of both the characters he holds in affection, but also those who he does not!I'm looking forward to reading the other novels in the Ashley series.

Brilliant read!