Angel Confidential
First Published: 1995
Published By: HarperCollins
Angel Number: 6
Personal Favourite: 10
Quotable Quote: I did what any self-respecting detective would do. I said sod it and went home.
The Backstory
Armed with new teeth, it should be back to the trumpet and trying out his new smile on unsuspecting citizens.
No, he gets mistaken for a real musher by a new, and inept, private eye, and finds himself agreeing to help her track down the whereabouts of a runaway. Along the way, he meets a thoroughly modern family of gypsies, an aristocrat with a love of classic cars, a weird religious cult and an even weirder solicitor and his wife.
One case should be enough, but he has to deal with three: why is the private eye's office being vandalised and where is that white powder coming from?
The Webmaster's Take
Bob, you know Bob, he had a foot long spanner that he used to tighten the Sergeant Major's jockstrap during the War (which war is open to debate), anyway the thing about Bob is that his knees gave in during the war and now he builds cars. British cars of course.
Cue 'Jerusalem' on crackly vinyl.
Bob turns to the young apprentice at his side, Jim, who shows promise despite the acne. Bob tightens another wheel nut, yes, with the same foot long spanner, and produces a clean white hankie with which he wipes the excess oil off in an almost royal manner.
"Eee lad, thou knows summat?"
"And what's that Bob?" says Jim.
"This un'll look jus' greet mounted int concreet in summun's back yard."
'Jerusalem' comes to a scratching halt.
Free the captives! Erhem. Away with the fantasy and on with the commentary.
Angel's pretty proud of his smile, so he's got it fixed (after a certain previous incident that took away half of his jaw), however, he's thinking of getting a rebate on it as no matter how hard he tries to grin his way out of trouble, he's got himself lumbered with a DIY PI, who, oddly enough, mistakes him for a real musher in a black cab.
It is a brave man indeed who has to cope with the hormone overload of Fenella (Binky), Lisabeth (Lissy), Miranda (Randa), Veronica (Ronnie) and Estelle (Stella). Keeping up? Oh good. As the old advert once said, I bet he's had three.
Maybe it’s surprising how long it took for the hardest woman in Hackney, Lisabeth, to get a starring role. As Angel admits himself, Lisabeth is the one person he’d have walking in front down a dark alley, and in this one you find out why. However, if Angel was the only one in that dark alley other than her, then she may well leave him to his fate. She does it all for Fenella. So, you see, she really isn’t that hard. Stella on the other hand, is deadly for another reason….
Stella only reappears briefly in one later book (Inside), a shame maybe, but that’s only because Angel knows how dangerous Amy is with high blood pressure (actually, the high blood pressure isn't compulsory) and values the important parts of his anatomy.
Gypsies, cults, gruesome murders, torture (not including Angel’s predicament), white powder and weird sexual fantasies, all excellent conversation starters in any walk of life, but maybe not in front of the children. Oh and classic cars too, but if you’re a fan you might want to close your eyes at the point that Angel plays dodgems in Armstrong.
Confidential, following on from City, still has that dark tone to it, although Confidential is twilight to City's pitch black. There are no caves, but there is a cellar. There is violence, but only where absolutely necessary and Angel's new teeth are safe. There are drugs, but they have no street value (well, not to humans). And of course, there is the cat.
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