Archer always keeps a suspense in the end of every volume of this series, and this one, part three, is no exception. This time the story is moving on to the next generation and - a la As the Crow Flies and at least another one of Archer's works - there is multiple suspense, possible incest and more.
They already have a son, and hope to be united in marriage, but are they related through a common father? One expects this these days to be simply and privately solved in an hour or so by medical procedures, but those days before DNA tests were possible much less common, it was a matter for courts - and that is a surprise until one realises quite how complicated the issue is.
It is far more important for the people concerned whether they can marry and if the son is not labeled born of incest, but there is more to it, since the will of the grandfather who founded the estate and the shipping corporation that the eldest son shall inherit the whole, and the law of the land too goes in generally for the elder son inheriting the title albeit in that case it has to be the legitimate one.
So the drama begins where the previous part left it off, is the couple related already; and the issue is to be decided by the parliament of UK, as most issues that are not satisfactorily solved by courts do. Again, in this case the people concerned are mostly selfless and care only for the good of the whole family, but the public is involved!
From this - the vote goes with need of the one single person presiding to vote to break a deadlock, described by the author in his usual way keeping one breathless - to the brilliant son of the brilliant couple growing up and getting into scrapes, and the uncle meanwhile in scrapes of his own that are more evoking of pathos rather than an amusing chuckle, and then too there is the little sister (daughter of the deadbeat dead father, aunt to the little boy) found and adopted into the family; very engrossing, but it goes further.
Adventures of the boy where he is quickly out of his depth, and the various elders involved quickly and silently to not merely get him out of it safely but to have the profit of it all for the nation, it becomes slightly reminiscent of an earlier work of the author where a similar young man out of his depth in Switzerland had a previously brilliant (but now a mere bank employee) roommate come to his aid unexpectedly, and so on to a thrilling chase that solved satisfactorily.
Here it is satisfactory in that part albeit slightly less thrilling and more concerning for the boy, but the whole thing twists and turns unexpectedly towards the end with the father of a schoolmate involved in a sinister way. Villains that pursue the righteous main characters with no thought to their own happiness but only to destroying that of others is yet another familiar theme. It would be cliché if it were not all too familiar in life and only too true to type.
Archer leaves the reader hanging in suspense at the end as usual in the series, so one expects the next part impatiently. Must read for Archer fans and all the more so for Clifton Chronicle connoisseurs.
