Wed 9 Feb 2022
An Archived PI Mystery Review by Bob Adey: J. T. McINTOSH – Take a Pair of Private Eyes.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[2] Comments
J. T. McINTOSH – Take a Pair of Private Eyes. Ambrose and Dominique Frayne #1. Frederick Muller, UK, hardcover, 1968. Doubleday, US, hardcover, 1968.
The most interesting thing about this book is that it’s a novelisation of a television play (BBC, 6 episodes, 1966; much broadcast, apparently, although I certainly never saw it) by Peter O’Donnell, creator of Modesty Blaise.
The sleuths are the almost omniscient, omnipotent husband and wife team, Ambrose and Dominique Frayne, who together with Frayne senior, a retired master criminal, investigate the theft of the Mineptah Coffin, the biggest single chunk of gold in the world.
Very much a caper type novel, there’s not a great deal of ratiocination but the action moves along at a fair old pace.
UPDATE: There was one followup adventure of the Fraynes, that being A Coat of Blackmail (Muller, 1970; Doubleday, 1971). This second does not seem to have been based on an O’Donnell work. McIntosh himself is much better known as an SF writer. These two books are his only entries in Hubin.
February 9th, 2022 at 10:53 pm
I read the first one. Not awful, but I wasn’t eager for more.
February 9th, 2022 at 11:09 pm
I have both, but in spite of being tempted when I first obtained them, they quickly got boxed away, and I have not read either. I wouldn’t expect a lot, but I’ve always enjoyed male/female PI combos, married or not.