Wilt (Published in 1976) - Comedy of errors - Authored by Tom Sharpe

Born in 1928, Thomas Ridley Sharpe was a British novelist, who favoured satire in all his writings. Best known for the Wilt series, and Porterhouse Blue, Thomas Sharpe, better known as Tom Sharpe was an alumnus of Pembroke College, Cambridge. His novels have been well acclaimed globally and the Wilt Series along with a few other books have also been adapted for television.    
Wilt is one of the first critically acclaimed novels of Tom Sharpe. Based on the life and misadventures of a professionally underrated assistant lecturer, Henry Wilt, the book is a comedic novel which was first published in 1976. The story starts off with Henry Wilt, who has a daft job and an extremely domineering wife. Wilt has just been passed up for promotion yet again and is shown to be a guy who always takes the easy way out in life. As a result he never gets what he wants. He teaches literature to uninterested construction workers and thugs at a Community College in the South of England.
Frustrated with his job, Wilt finds no respite even at home. With a wife who is physically larger than him, but emotionally and mentally behaves extremely immature, Wilt is desperate to find a way out of his troubles. Even though he cannot do anything about his job, he loves to walk his dog and fantasize about doing something to his wife, Eva. Eva is shown to be massive, with unpredictable fits of over enthusiasm. Wilt is tired of being hen-pecked and harassed all the time by Eva, and starts day dreaming about killing her in gruesome ways.




But, then a string of unfortunate events put Wilt in an unenviable position. These events start at a party hosted by some “horrible Americans”. When his wife runs off with a college professor, Wilt seizes the opportunity of carrying out some of his more vindictive fantasies. He inflates a life size plastic doll and dresses it up in his wife’s clothes. He then proceeds to dump the doll down a 30 foot hole. And by doing something so stupid he has now started a chain of events in which suspicion and blame soon find their way back to him, when his wife goes missing.
What follows is a hilarious tale of confusion and mayhem. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. And Wilt only makes matters worse when he attempts to make things better. Along the way he is subjected to humiliation and turmoil as his life is turned upside down. But going through the ordeal, somewhere along the way, Wilt finds his strengths and some amount of dignity.
He seems to be assisting the police in finding his wife, but is almost all the time under a cloud of suspicion from the obstinate police inspector Flint. Gradually with all the pressure of the investigation burdening him down, he starts to find his strong suits and begins to flourish. While the police focus solely on the circumstantial evidence they have, Wilt puts in all he has into showing the world how the Law actually works, and how they can’t seem to differentiate a missing person from a hole in the ground.
A satirical and entertaining read overall, in which Tom Sharpe has created a character, which we can all identify with. Maybe we do not recognize Henry Wilt as ourselves, but, we do recognize him as someone we are afraid to turn into. Throughout the story, the reader experiences a sort of empathy for the protagonist.

In the Frame (published in 1976) - Written by Dick Francis - into the world of art fraud and crime

Richard Stanley Francis or Dick Francis was born in Pembrokshire, Wales, England on October 20th 1920. His father was a renowned jockey and Francis was catapulted in to the world of Horses, Jockeys and racing. He dropped out of school to train as a Jockey and was a fighter pilot in the Royal Air-force during World War II. After the war Francis became a celebrity Champion Jockey winning over 350 races. He was the lead Jockey for the Queen Mother. But he had to drop out of Horse racing after a serious fall and became a racing correspondent for Sunday Express. Dick Francis churned out numerous best sellers and most of his books deal with the mysteries in the realm of Horse racing and Jockeys. He wrote more than 40 international best sellers and is the recipient of numerous awards. Being a three time recipient of Mystery writer of America's Edgar Award he was made the Grand master of MWA. He is also the recipient of Britain's Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger Award for fiction in 1979 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award. He also has the Gumshoe award to his credit. He was accorded a CBE in 2000. Dick Francis died in his Caribbean home on February 10, 2010 bringing down the curtains to an illustrious life.
Yet another fabulous novel from the master mystery writer and its all about horse racing again. One of the enduring traits about the Dick Francis book is that there is an endless variety of jobs and passions related to the racing fraternity. In The Frame has a horse painter as the protagonist.



Yes Charles Todd is a painter or an artist who paints horses. During the course of his book Dick Francis gives you the trivia or the interesting facets of painting a horse picture. Many are an event frozen in time by the artist. It is said that Mary, his wife used to help him undertake extensive research to help him get through the book. So she learned photography, parachute gliding and for this book she learned to paint. As Felix, Dick Francis's son put it “they were a team, a cottage industry with out a cottage”.
Charles Todd like all the Francis heroes, is an unassuming gentleman, albeit a cheeky one here. He comes down to Australia to check on a cousin. But as luck could have it he walks in to a crime scene. The cousin's house is burglarized, and the wife is murdered seemingly intercepting the thieves. The house is completely burned down ruining all the expensive paintings and a cellar full of wine. Charles stays back to help his cousin to deal with the police and the insurance. The investigation appears to be stalled and his cousin sinks deeper in to depression. To help the stagnant situation to move Charles takes matter in his own hands follows up the clues.
He meets another middle aged women whose house has been similarly burnt down and the common thread running between the two being a purchase of a painting done by the master. Soon patterns evolve and Charles finds that all the paintings bought were fake and to cover the trail of the phony paintings the fraudsters were trying to destroy them as soon they were purchased. Charles detective work takes him all over Australia and New Zealand where he is battered, bruised and almost killed. But he soon manages to uncover the gang's modus operandi and once again rescues the racing world.
Only Dick Francis can come up with a thriller like this and the simplicity is the major brownie point for this book. An incisive knowledge about the racing world and his vast experience helps Francis to mold a fantastic character like Charles Todd who may not be a jockey but paints horses. The language is engaging, simple and down to earth. Only jarring feature is the prevailing old British overtones through out and its still difficult to believe such chivalry exists in the real world.

The Golden Gate (published in 1976) - Authored by Alistair Maclean - a threat to the Golden Gate Bridge

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
The egomaniac criminal Branson and his henchmen kidnap the president and threaten to blow up the golden gate bridge if their ransom demand is not met with. The criminal master min Peter Branson along with his comrades kidnap the president, his army chief, a oil sheikh and A Prince of a Middle eastern country. The spectacular action unfolds in the middle of the Golden gate Bridge in San Francisco. He also capture Mount Tamalpious which hosts the radar station to control the aircraft activity over the bridge.
So the investigating agencies are crippled by air and land and sea. Branson demands one billion dollars in ransom and a pardon for all criminal activities. He professes to be non violent criminal and executes the action with a smooth hand. His main henchmen are, Van Effen, Chrysler, Bradley and Giscard. Branson is portrayed to be a very able leader and a good friend who takes care all of them.



But Branson had a major flaw, he is fame crazy. When he cripples the law enforcers, he allows news media to cover this event. He invites everybody to witness the kidnappings provided if they have a camera and pen with them, only fire arms not allowed.
So the FBI exploits this major loop hole. Its devious head Haggenbach picks up his finest agent, Paul Revson to check mate Branson. So enter Revson who is a cool cynical MacLean hero armed with a camera and a pen. He flatters Branson and gains entry in to the inner circle close to the kidnappers. Here he meets Dr. O'Hare, a medic and April Wednesday, a journalist who prove to be his unlikely allies.
Revson's ingenious plans start to take shape. He with the help of Dr. O'Hare bring in small guns, cyanide revolvers, smoke bombs and medicines. The villains start disappearing with Revson catching and drugging them to smuggle them out aboard a submarine under the bridge. In this mission he is ably assisted by April Wednesday and Revson soon falls in love with her. The game of cat and mouse continue with the FBI playing with the emotions of the henchmen.
After emotionally wrecking the kidnappers, Revson in the final bout of action with the help of Cartland, the army chief, rescues the President and his guests outwitting the villains. He also wins the lady whom MacLean has not given much of a thought. A simple thriller worth a read.