Everyone knows Ellis Peters as the creator of Brother Cadfael, that wise and worldly inmate of the Benedictine monastery in Shrewsbury, who appeared in 21 historical mysteries set between 1137 and 1145. The monastery was inevitably pulled into the civil war that raged across the country then between Matilda, daughter of Henry I, and Stephen of Blois, Henry’s nephew. The civil war provided a compelling backdrop and occasional plot device to the books.
Before Peters struck the public’s fancy with a medieval monk, she wrote a series of police procedurals about a family of police inspectors named Felse in Shropshire and some stand-alone mysteries. She wrote dozens of short stories and novels under her real name Edith Pargeter. She also published under the names John Redfern, Jolyon Carr, and Peter Benedict.
Her last stand-alone mystery is Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers! (Morrow, 1976). It was published the year before Brother Cadfael appeared, after which Peters seems to have been fully occupied with the good monk.
The hitch-hiker in question is William Anthony Patrick Banks, a sheltered young man who decides that it is time to break away from his repressive mother. His exit route crosses the path of Alf, part of a small-time gang converging in a market town to share the proceeds of a bank robbery that took place three years earlier. They have been waiting for the police to lose interest before they split up the proceeds. The police still are far too watchful of the gang, so the gang leader has devised a way to divert the attention of the police permanently. Alf considers Willie to be an excellent fall guy and proceeds to incorporate him into their plans. Willie’s guardian angels, who work overtime throughout the book, see that he escapes their plot.
In the meantime a larger and better organized and more vicious gang from London has heard about the money and decides to appropriate it. While the scenes with the naïve Willie are slyly humorous, there’s nothing lighthearted about the determination of the two gangs to possess the money. Guns, knives, and fists come into play more than once. The Braybourne police are dismayed to have gang warfare break out in their nice town.
I should note that the amount of money in question is £250,000, which does not sound as if it should merit this much attention. However, the Bank of England inflation calculator says that the 1975 sum has the buying power of £1,840,106.02 in 2023, which makes everyone’s interest understandable.
This is a delightful book, serious and amusing by turns. Willie skates past two sets of thorough villains largely unscathed and he stumbles into a means of independence along the way. The characters are all vividly drawn. Jessamine Bastable, for instance, long-suffering wife of the philandering Stanley Bastable, the only bank robber who knows where the money is hidden. She is under no illusions about her two-timing husband but she intends to keep him for her share of the loot. Willie’s mother is another fine character, manipulating and controlling Willie with her steel hand in velvet glove routine. The scene at the end where she finds out just how far Willie has flown the coop is priceless.
This story would film well. It has a number of visual gimmicks that could be effective on screen: Car chases, lights that go out at crucial moments, handbags that get switched in the dark, gunplay, and criminals following police who are following criminals. A clever director could turn this into a great cops-and-robbers movie.
Polished witty writing, even pacing, strong plot, this story is an excellent way to spend a few hours on an autumn evening.