Thu 17 Aug 2023
An Archived Mystery Review by Barry Gardner: BARRY NORMAN – The Butterfly Tattoo.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[2] Comments
BARRY NORMAN – The Butterfly Tattoo. Bobby Lennox #2, St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1996. Published in the UK under the title The Mickey Mouse Affair (Orion, 1995).
If I read the first in this series, The Birddog Tape, I’ve forgotten it. The author hosts a popular film review program for the BBC, and has written a number of other books both fiction and non-.
Bobby Lennox is an ex-boxer of not quite first rank who was fortunate enough to get out of the game with his face and wits intact He’s used those wits to become a successful businessman and investor, but still has ties to the rougher world he used to inhabit.
An old friend from that world, a top underworld figure who has almost become legitimatized, calls him and asks a favor: a London politician who may be in line for a Ministership and who is “helpful” to him is being blackmailed, and the crime figure wants Lennox to help make it go away. He does, and it does, but not before a lot of blood and tears are spilled.
This was a pleasant surprise. It’s not a major book — and not intended to be- — but one with more than competent first-person narration, well-drawn characters, and an interesting plot.
In essence it’s a hardboiled private eye tale, though Lennox doesn’t have a license. In general I don’t think British authors have fared particularly well with this type of novel, but Norman seems to have the moves down pretty well.
Bio-Biographical Update (the first paragraph coming from the author’s Fantastic Fiction webpage) —
“Barry Norman, 1933 – 2017, CBE, was a British film critic, journalist and television presenter. He presented Film… on BBC One from 1972 to 1998 and was the programme’s longest-running host. He also wrote many novels and non-fiction books, including books on film and cricket.”
This and the one earlier one that Barry G. mentioned in this review constitute the entirety of Barry N.’s Bobby Lennox series.
August 18th, 2023 at 9:59 pm
Somebody needs to do a survey of how many private eyes, professional and amateur, are ex boxers. I can think of at least three without much effort.
August 19th, 2023 at 12:22 am
You are right. “Somebody” needs to do it. It’s a small but not insignificant category. I’ve even read some of them.