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An
Errant Youth in
Uniform
by Bryan Marlowe
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UK price:
£7.99 US
price:
$11.99
Publisher:
DIADEM BOOKS
Format: Paperback
Size : 20.3 x 12.7 x
1.5 cm
Pages: 278
ISBN: 978-1907294471
Published:
March-2010 |
Archibald Sinclair
Cholmondeley (pronounced
Chumly), the glib-tongued
and picaresque, street-wise
youth, who first appeared in
Memoirs of an Errant
Youth, is caught out at
last – called up for
National Service. He chose
the Royal Air Force in which
to serve his time, because
old soldiers had told him,
‘There’s less ‘bull’ in the
‘Brylcreem Boys Brigade’ and
blue had always been his
favourite colour.’
He still
doesn’t miss an opportunity
to make a bit of cash on the
side. He is the bane of his
superior officers,
challenges authority and
gets into scrapes, but
always manages to talk his
way out of trouble. Finally,
to everyone’s surprise, he
proves his worth and makes
the grade.
Cover design
by Laura Martin.
Find her artwork and
photography at
www.caelitha.deviantart.com
About the author
Bryan Marlowe was born in
the City of London in 1930.
He left school at the age of
14 and had innumerable jobs
before being called up for
National Service in the
Royal Air Force from
1948/50. He rejoined the RAF
in1951 and retired in 1971.
He worked for twenty years
with a Northern Police
Force. On retirement he took
up voluntary work with
Witness and Victim Support,
co-ordinated Neighbourhood
Watch schemes and worked as
a newspaper columnist. He
has travelled extensively
and lived abroad. He now
lives in southeast London.
Those
of us who enjoyed Bryan
Marlowe's last book "An
Errant Youth" have an
opportunity to follow the
further adventures of Archy
Cholmondeley in "An Errant
Youth In Uniform". This is a
fun read, as Archy is at his
clever best squeaking out of
tight situations, figuring
new ways to earn extra cash,
and leaving his less
ambitious fellow R.A.F.
recruits behind while he
strives to improve his lot.
Mr. Marlowe has left the
door ajar at the end of the
book for more of Archy's
escapades in the future. I
hope he doesn't make us wait
too long.
Carl M. Miller
Bolivar, MO U.S.A.
Review by James Drew
Based in no small part on
the youthful adventures (and
misadventures) of
its author, Bryan Marlowe,
An Errant Youth in Uniform
sees our hero
Archibald (Archie) Sinclair
Cholmondeley (pronounced 'Chumly')
called up
for National Service just
after the end of World War
Two, and thus forced
to put his journalistic
ambitions temporarily on
hold to serve his time in
the Royal Air Force.
Sharp-witted, sharp tongued
and subversive, Archie
quickly becomes the bane of
his COs but, as in his first
outing, rarely
misses a trick or an
opportunity to make a little
cash on the side. His
relationship with Felicity
still seems solid - but will
he keep his
wandering eye in hand long
enough to keep the girl?
That would be
telling...
Marlowe has already proved
his ability to deliver
slick, well-paced page
turners with his previous
work in the thriller genre,
such as A Kind of
Wild Justice and Settled Out
of Court, but he is never
more in his stride
(and I hope he will forgive
this reviewer) than when he
is talking about
himself, and that's why
Archie is probably his
best-defined, most likeable
character to date. In
addition, the brisk
formality of the dialogue is
far
more suited to a military
setting in post-war England
than it has seemed
to be with some of his other
work, in which the
characters' speech has
sometimes seemed at odds
with more modern-day
settings.
Here, however, the
characters' verbal
interaction only adds to the
charm
of the story, and, coupled
with the wryly amusing
nature of Archie's
hijinks, allows the novel as
a whole to be enjoyed as a
perfect bedside
companion. Marlowe makes us
care for what happens to
Archie and, when you
have your readers onside,
you can't be going far
wrong. Recommended.
Available from the
following on-line
bookstores:
Also by Bryan
Marlowe:
A romantic saga dedicated to
those who have lost the love
of their life and live in
hope of one day regaining
it.
Tarnished Heroes
by Bryan Marlowe |
UK price:
£8.38 US
price:
$15.95
Format: Paperback
Size : 5 x 8
Pages: 228
ISBN: 0-595-40750-1
Published: Aug-2006
|
It's the cold war in the Far
East and a chain of deadly
circumstances forces two
former world war heroes to
form an alliance to save
those they love in a final
desperate act of heroism and
redemption.
Be warned; don’t be fooled
by Gary Remington’s
gentlemanly demeanour. He’s
a tough, war-hardened
ex-sergeant major, who
exercises unremitting
relentlessness in whatever
he undertakes. He’s now on a
mission of merciless
vengeance and he’ll take no
prisoners!
Tense, gripping and with a
rich seam of black humour,
Settled Out Of Court
is the latest thriller from
Bryan Marlowe—a man with a
literary mission of his own.
Leaving Mercy
to Heaven
is a
bang-up-to-date, dramatic
action-packed tale of
revenge, intrigue, betrayal,
and romance, involving
terrorism, modern
Casablanca, and the Israeli
Secret Service
Marlowe's
Manuscripts
(From
Up Front)
James Drew
takes a trip down memory
lane, with a shameless plug
for his one-time
journalist-cohort turned
published novelist, Bryan
Marlowe. Not heard of him
yet? Well, that's why he's a
'cult hero'. Read on...
It
does seem like a long time
ago. Eleven years, in
fact...before falling in
love with Brussels (where he
arrived via a circuitous
journalistic route, taking
in The Yellow Advertiser in
East London
http://icessex.icnetwork.co.uk,
which explains why he's a
West Ham supporter), your 'umble
hack Drew started scribbling
in the ancient northern town
of York, where a certain UP
Front editor Tony Mallett
(yes, him again), made a big
mistake - he gave him a job
as a journalist.
The sadly-defunct free-sheet
The York and District
Advertiser was where Drew
first won his spurs and, if
you're wondering when I'm
ever going to get to the
point of this yarn, don't
worry, it'll be any second
now.
Because, at this time (told
you), Drew also came into
the orbit of one Bryan
Marlowe, a letter-writer
extraordinaire, a man with
more bylines in The York
Evening Press (www.yorkpress.co.uk)
than many of its
journalists. Drew, anxious
to score points against the
'Tizer's fiercest rival (ah,
memories), shamelessly
bribed the man with
competition prizes, free
meals and more than a few
sherbets, to ensure that
Marlowe's missives began
flowing into another
newspaper.
The York Press (as they are
now called) had the last
laugh, unfortunately -
doubtless stung by their
plucky rival's chutzpah,
they offered Bryan a job as
a columnist. Which he took,
the swine...[Good point -
exactly why are we giving
him a plug, Drew? - ED]
But enough of the past -
Marlowe, who was born in
London in 1930 (revenge
truly is a dish best served
cold) and left school at the
age of 14, has long lived
the rover's life.
Conscripted for National
Service in 1948, he served
two years, was demobbed,
then worked for Siemens and
rejoined the RAF as a
regular in January 1951.An
RAF regular from 1951-71, he
then worked for a further 20
years with a northern police
force. His extensive foreign
travels, combined with his
life's career path, inform
the genuinely exciting
narratives of his four books
to date. Up to press, these
are As Long As There's
Tomorrow, an intensely
personal romantic saga about
love lost and regained,
Memoirs of an Errant Youth,
a tongue-in-cheek account of
the author's early years of
employment in wartime
Britain and the immediate
post-war period of
austerity, Tarnished
Heroes, a cold-war
thriller set in the Far East
and A Kind of Wild
Justice, an
ex-sergeant-major-turns-vigilante
page-turner.
And, just for those readers
wondering what the
connection is between Bryan
and Brussels, be informed
that he says he'd "very much
like to revisit the capital
of Belgium, so long as the
G+Ts are on Drew's tab".
Just what we need in town -
another writer...[Drew,
you're fired - ED]
For more information on the
man Marlowe and his work
(he's currently working on a
fifth, Settled Out of
Court), go to
http://www.diadembooks.com/tomorrow.htm,
where you'll also find links
to purchase all of his
thus-far published tomes.
Happy reading!
Brussels-based freelance
journalist Tom Slaughter
reviews
Settled Out Of Court
by Bryan Marlowe.
Considering that he only
turned to novels two years
ago, Bryan Marlowe proved
himself prolific and more
than adept at handling a
range of genres, from the
whimsical nostalgia of
Memoirs of an Errant Youth,
via the military rough and
tumble of Tarnished
Heroes, to riveting
revenge yarn A Kind of
Wild Justice.
Settled Out Of Court
runs along similar lines to
…Justice, but
Marlowe’s choice of a
sociopathic, revenge-driven
young man as central
character lifts the
narrative into the realm of
psychological study, as well
as being a cracking read.
Dermot Baxter is the man
with a plan – his father Rex
died in jail after being
wrongly imprisoned for the
murder of his au pair lover.
Still at home but distant
from his mother, Baxter
embarks on a calculated
mission of revenge against
all those members of the law
and judiciary whom he
believes must pay for the
injustice. But the law is
slowly and surely closing
in…
Marlowe’s own police
experience (he worked for 20
years with a northern force
in the UK) is put to good
use here; the dialogue
between the ‘coppers on the
case’ is believable, even if
it occasionally seems forced
between Baxter and his
mother. By the same token,
the writer’s gift for
creating enjoyable
page-turners has once again
been employed – that we are
suckered into sympathising
for a cold-blooded killer is
an impressive turn from
Marlowe, and there are more
than enough twists and
turns, coupled with
genuinely suspenseful
set-pieces, to keep
thriller-hounds happy.
Recommended.
T.S.
Published Categories
An
Errant Youth in Uniform - Bryan
Marlowe
