Who Rides a Tiger

 Who Rides a Tiger (1958) by Colin Robertson

When Greg Rillston's partner Trevis Sutton at the Blue Diamond roadhouse is shot and killed. Rillston becomes the prime suspect. After all, he and Rillston were the only ones on the premises. And the police don't quite buy that a man could be shot in the same building and Ralliston wouldn't hear it. Sure, a window was open that shouldn't have been and there's no weapon to be found. And they can't really find a motive--Sutton's secretary inherits his share of the roadhouse--but surely there's one around here somewhere.

Vicky McBain is a private eye. He's pals with Rillston...well, friends. Sortof. Actually, I don't quite understand his attachment to the man. When they both were in London, McBain would get drinks at Rillston's place, but they didn't exactly seem to be bosom buddies. But here's McBain with a detecting license and he decides to clear Rillston's name. The further he digs the deeper the mystery grows and the trail leads him from the roadhouse to London to Paris and Nice. It also seems to have ties to the last days of the war in Germany. Rillston is getting mysterious messages telling him he best be jumping on a plane to Paris if he knows what's good for him. And there's a nasty-looking bloke with a scar who's hanging around the roadhouse. McBain thinks scarface could shed some light on things if only he could catch him. But the detective gets threatened and beaten up and doused in a pool along the way--and the whole time his secretary is telling him he shouldn't go detecting if there's no client to pay the bills. And maybe she's right. 

This was a pretty middling kind of semi-hardboiled mystery (with private eye and random beatings going on). I don't think much of McBain's detective skills nor his ability to read people. He gets things wrong about several of the characters involved--except scarface, but then it'd be hard to miss that he's one of the bad guys in one way or another. As I mention above, his attachment to Rillston is a mystery to me. I can't figure out why he goes to all that trouble for the man--they're definitely not besties and the man isn't paying him a dime. And, honestly, it's not like Rillston is already in jail and ready to go on trial. The police haven't even got enough evidence to take him in to "assist them with their enquiries."

 The back story to what it's all about is interesting and I would have liked this a lot better if more had been made of it. But that all comes out rather late in the game and just gets explained in a hurry as we're wrapping things up. It was a nice, quick read and I don't regret having read it. But I also can't say I'm on fire to find more of the Vicky McBain series (there are apparently at least seven more of them...).  ★★★

First line: I went along to the Blue Diamond roadhouse that night mainly because I was at a loose end.

Last line: Well, you know how I feel about Kay.
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Deaths = 2 (one shot; one hit on head)