Hazell Plays Solomon

Who knew that Terry Venables co-authored some detective novels in the 70s? I had no idea, so picked this up immediately when I found it at charity book sale. It's a very slight story that holds some interest for its 1970s east end London setting, but the protagonist himself is fairly intolerable. Constantly interjecting himself into conversations with unfunny witticisms, the other characters just ignore him while he thinks he's the smartest kid on the block.

Also contains this bizarre paragraph:

” A beautiful, half-naked girl opened the door. She had black hair, deep brown eyes and the kind of smile that would corrupt an archbishop.

The top half of her white bikini was missing and the bottom half wasn't hiding anything but essentials. Her exquisitely smooth shoulders and boyishly-firm breasts glistened with drops of water.

Unfortunately she was about eight years old. “