Cat O' Nine Tales

I have read and liked some of Jeffrey Archer’s best sellers like “Kane and Abel” and some of his previously published short stories.

But it was the mention on the cover of “Drawings by Ronald Searle” that made me buy this book. Searle is one of my favourite caricaturists and I thought he would add a certain fillip to the short stories. I was not disappointed.

Rather patchily following Archer’s rise and fall in British politics, the last I heard, he was imprisoned for perjury after controversies involving an alleged sleazy sex scandal, alleged misuse of funds collected for Iraqi Kurds and other unsavoury items, a mix of talent and trickiness.

(details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Archer)

A gifted story teller, here he is more of a raconteur, retelling twelve tales, nine of which he claims to have collected from fellow prisoners during his incarceration in jail and the other three after his release. Most convicts clammed up, he says, when they got to know he was a writer but some could not wait to pour out their doings into his avid ear.

Each story has a sting hidden in the end to flick the reader’s interest, like the multi-lashed barbed whip that the book is named after. To me, he appears to be a cynical conman connoisseur while presenting this collection.

There is one about an Indian police commissioner set in the backdrop of a Mumbai seen through Archer’s eyes. Another is about how a small time lorry driver’s wife and daughter end up owning a large transport company, an Italian restaurant owner who called Archer “maestro”, though he himself vies for the same slick title later, a highly connected personage who tries to get rid of his wife with just plain drinking water….almost comical, but actually cold and clear descriptions of evil geniuses making use of mundane situations and opportunities.

I prefer reading short stories when I have to go on long flights that last for almost 24 hours, changeovers, hanging around airports included. This one whiled away my time on one such tedious trip some months ago, complementing the stop-start reading sessions that one is forced to follow during travel.

Definitely worth a read, to get a glimpse of the workings of convoluted criminal minds showcased by a famous ex-con himself.

Special edition for Indian subcontinent      panmacmillan@vsnl.com

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