Raven's deliciously scurrilous Roman fleuve continues, with the action moving into the late 1950s. It opens in the small French town of Menton with noted sponger Mark Lewson languishing with the voracious widow Angela Tuck. Lewson, always a realist, recognises that their liaison is entering its final phase. Having "borrowed" some money from Angela's purse he risks a final fling at the casino in the hope of generating some working capital. With harsh predictability this venture fails, and Lewson is only rescued from acute embarrassment (and probable arrest) by the intervention of the sinister Max de Freville.

De Freville has been a long-term professional gamester, managing casinos and special gambling parties throughout Europe. He is,however, subject to a form of "tedium vitae" and has retreated to Menton where he indulges a bizarre relationship with Mrs Tuck. Although totally platonic, theirs is a mutually sustaining relationship, and de Freville is eager to ensure that Lewson does not exploit Angela too fiercely. One self-prescribed remedy for de Freville's pervasive ennui has been his attempts to manipulate a network of acquaintances and retainers, sitting back at the centre of his web watching their exploits from afar. With this in mind he tips Lewson off about a compromising letter currently held by another of his acquaintances which, in the the right (or wrong) could seriously embarrass the British Government over its involvement in the failed Suez Canal conflict of 1956.

Meanwhile, Somerset Lloyd-James, the Machiavellian editor of political magazine Strix, is still desperately ambitious and is eager to secure the Conservative candidacy for the safe constituency of Bishop's Cross, whose incumbent has announced his intention to step down at the next election. There are four other contenders for the nomination including the accomplished (yet painfully self-righteous) Peter Morrison, who had resigned three years earlier over Suez.

Lewson is soon in touch with Lloyd-James, and negotiates a satisfactory deal whereby Lloyd-James comes into possession of the letter, and wastes no time in using it to force certain Tory Grandees to pull strings on his behalf.

Meanwhile (a key word when trying to explain the intricate plots of any of Raven's novels), Sir Edwin Turbot, foremost among current Tory grandees, is in some mental disarray as his eldest daugher, Patricia, prepares to marry Tom Llewellyn, a gifted Socialist journalist and academic. Though diametrically opposed politically, Turbot respects Llewellyn's understanding of the prevailing political landscape, and comes around to agreeing with Tom's view that Morrison would be the wisest choice as Tory candidate for Bishop's Cross, at least until Lloyd-James starts flapping the Lewson letter about.

Raven manages all these separate threads of plot (and there are far more than I could even contemplate trying to encompass in this brief review) with his customary aplomb, and keeps the reader guessing throughout. His own alter ego, Fielding Gray, is also back, now reincarnated as a novelist and journalist after his military career met an untimely end following his sever wounding (and disfigurement) in Malta.

Altogether as enjoyable as ever! ( )