Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer

Published by HarperCollins on September 26, 2023

For several novels (this one is number six), Jeffrey Archer has been following the stellar career of William Warwick as he has worked his way up the chain of command in London law enforcement. Warwick is a model of rectitude, a perfect officer who has a perfect marriage to a perfect wife and the smartest and most perfectly behaved children in all of England and thus the world. The ideal kids love learning British history because what could be more fascinating than knowing the year that William the Conqueror died? To be fair, British royalty is even more fascinating to every character in the novel. American readers might need to stifle a yawn at the various history lectures and Inside Royalty discussions that fill the pages while the plot pauses for a nap.

William becomes Chief Superintendent early in this novel, continuing his meteoric career ascension. He receives the news of his promotion while orchestrating the transportation of the crown jewels from the Tower of London to Parliament, where the Queen is about to give a boring speech. Readers who love the esoterica of British royal customs (I don’t know how many Americans are in that group) might enjoy all the gushing prose about Her Majesty’s performance of her royal duties. The fascination with the Queen is compounded by drooling descriptions of the red robes with white ermine worn by Lords, the Queen’s carriage, and all the other frivolity that accompanies British pomp and circumstance. Readers who have no interest in such pageantry can skip several sections of the novel. (Many will want to skip past the conversation that extolls the virtues of Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair takes office during the novel, but characters keep their opinions about Blair to themselves.)

As always, William turns to Detective Inspector Ross Hogan when he needs something shady done and doesn’t want to sully his reputation. As always, the story features courtroom scenes involving William’s father, a barrister with a rigid stick up him bum who usually prosecutes for the Crown but occasionally represents defendants on the condition that they are actually innocent. As always, Booth Watson is an unethical barrister who opposes William’s father while serving the interest of greed. As always, Watson’s greediest client is Miles Faulkner who, as always, is assisted in his efforts at grifting his by ex-wife Christina, unless he happens to be grifting Christina as he does in this novel, as always. At this point, an AI could probably write these novels, perhaps more creatively than Archer.

Courtroom theatrics are generally the best elements in the Warwick novels, although Archer muddles some of the details. In one trial, Williams’ father elicits testimony from Hogan that methamphetamine is more commonly known as ecstasy, when in fact they are entirely different drugs. One might think that a cop would know that, even if the elder Warwick is too busy hobnobbing with members of the upper class to be bothered with knowledge of the cases he prosecutes. In a different case, the narrative three times refers to a witness as the client of Watson when Watson is prosecuting. As a prosecutor, his client is the Crown, not the witness. These are the kinds of errors an editor should have noticed. Still, the central courtroom scene has the kind of Perry Mason gotcha questions that enliven courtroom dramas.

Watson starts off the novel by trying to pull a con on a widow, offering to underpay for her gallery before reselling it at a hefty profit to Miles. William’s wife Beth intervenes to save the widow. Beth is an art dealer but has been invited to apply as the director of a prestigious art museum where she once worked. Beth’s business partner Christina is yet again looking to undercut Beth, making her the worst friend in history and raising questions about Beth’s inability to see what a wretch she’s chosen for a BFF.

Miles keeps getting released (or escaping) from prison so that William can lock him up again. His grand scheme in this novel — well, I mentioned the crown jewels, so you can guess his criminal goal. Another subplot involves Miles’ switch of a real Rubens for a forgery that was donated to the museum where Beth is about to be reemployed. Naturally William wants to switch it back, notwithstanding that the original is now in Miles’ Manhattan apartment. This segment of the novel feels like a space filler, given the recurring theme of Miles and Christina exchanging forged paintings for real ones throughout the series.

The crown jewels caper is less a theft (because what pawn shop will pay a fair price for the crown jewels?) and more an opportunity to embarrass William. There is little suspense as William finds ways to thwart Miles’ various criminal schemes, but the crown jewels plot is at least more original than the switched paintings. In another moderately interesting subplot, Miles tries to set up Hogan for attempting to influence a juror in the drug case by shagging her during the trial. William is certain that Hogan would shag the woman if given the opportunity but is confident that Hogan would wait until after the verdict. It’s good to have friends who understand your virtues and weaknesses.

I suppose there is a final book in this series upcoming, as William has not yet been given the top job. Miles will presumably be released from prison to torment William yet again. I’m recommending this book because readers who haven’t read the other books in the series might not be bored by this one, but I hope Archer soon finds less tedious characters to write about.

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Next in Line by Jeffrey Archer

Published by ‎ HarperCollins on September 27, 2022

One wonders how many novels Jeffrey Archer can milk from the career of William Warwick and his relentless battle against the nefarious criminal Miles Faulkner, as well as Faulkner’s unethical lawyer, Booth Watson. At least one more, apparently, as Next in Line leaves a plot thread dangling.

Princess Diana, the world’s favorite royal after the Queen grew to old to do anything interesting, is taking a break from Prince Charles. She’s yachting (and presumably canoodling) with a rich fellow when terrorists controlled by Gaddafi capture the yacht and take her captive. That’s a crime that differs from William Warwick’s usual fare. Perhaps Archer thought it was time to add some excitement to William’s drab life.

Now if Diana had actually been kidnapped, the world might have noticed, so this book might need to be viewed as an alternate history. In a brief statement at the end, Archer apologizes for making small changes in history while applauding himself for his meticulous research.

In any event, the kidnapping is a late addition to the plot. Most of the novel follows the usual path of a William Warwick story. William’s pretentious father is again prosecuting Faulkner, this time for the prison escape that occurred in Over My Dead Body. Watson tries to enrich himself by defrauding Faulkner and his client’s ex-wife Christina, who is once again playing tug-of-war with her ex-husband over his art collection. Unless it’s Christina’s art collection now — it’s difficult to keep track.

Inspector Ross Hogan takes a job as Diana’s personal protection officer, while William is assigned to an undercover job with Royal Protection (the British equivalent of America’s Secret Service, albeit charged with protecting royals rather than politicians). Warwick is investigating fraudulent claims for expense reimbursements submitted by the cops, which seems small potatoes compared to the money spent by British citizens to fund the royals. It is a big deal to William, however, who is absolute in his view that the police should never break the law — unless, of course, he’s kidnapping Faulkner in Spain and hauling him back to England without bothering to pursue an extradition. Like most people who make a show of their rectitude, William’s principles are flexible when it comes to William.

The story is a bit dull, if only because it seems like something series readers have encountered before — four times before when it comes to crimes involving Faulkner’s art collection. While the plot enlivens when the terrorists make their appearance, the terrorists are nearly as stupid as Bond villains. They discuss their plans within earshot of witnesses, not pausing to consider that the witnesses might have been planted by the police because they speak the terrorists’ language. They spare the life of a cop for no obvious reason other than Archer’s desire to avoid disappointing his readers by killing off a character they might care about.

Lengthy bits of the novel focus on two British obsessions: cricket and the correct protocol to follow when encountering a member of the royal family. British readers might find these bits of interest. I’ve read several novels that describe cricket matches and still can’t figure out how the match is scored, although I do like the customary break for tea in the middle of the game. Alan Lazard recently pretended to pour tea (or maybe a psychedelic drink) after scoring a touchdown for the Packers, but I can’t see impatient and uncivilized Americans tolerating a real tea break in any sport. On the other hand, some Americans do take an interest in royals, at least when they’re misbehaving. Archer portrays Diana as a misbehaving wife, although the world was willing to forgive Diana anything for enduring a marriage to the current king.

Maybe fans of royal scandals are a good audience for this book. I wouldn’t recommend the novel as a standalone because it is premised on so many events developed in the earlier novels. Readers who read the first four might as well read this one, but the last novel remains the best in the series, probably because it overcame the privileged stuffiness of the central characters.

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Over My Dead Body by Jeffrey Archer

Published by ‎HarperCollins on October 19, 2021

Over My Dead Body is the latest and best of four novels (with another to come) that chronicle the early career of William Warwick, a British cop who rises quickly through the bureaucracy of Scotland Yard as the series progresses.

Warwick is now a Detective Chief Inspector. He’s about to take charge of a unit that will examine cold case murders. Before that happens, he takes a cruise with his wife and rather handily solves an onboard murder with an assist from a precocious young American named James who attends a high-end prep school in Connecticut and plans to go to Harvard before becoming director of the FBI. William and James get along well, probably because they are both insufferably smug.

James is an American teen but he doesn’t sound like an American or a teen. His belief that American lawyers use the phrase “on the balance of judgement” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt” suggests that James isn’t as smart as he believes himself to be. Or maybe he doesn’t watch American television.

In any event, the main story takes place after Warwick is recalled to England. Warwick’s nemesis throughout the series has been Miles Faulkner, whose crimes involve art and an ongoing attempt to swindle his wife Christina, who either is or isn’t the best friend of Warwick’s wife, depending on Christina’s shifting loyalties. Warwick is again hot on the heels of Faulkner, this time chasing him to Spain.

Jeffrey Archer overcomes the failings of the earlier novels in the latest installment. Warwick and his family have taken great pride in demonstrating the extraordinary refinement and proper behavior of British aristocracy. traits that make them annoying and dull. Fortunately, Warwick’s perfect father and sister play no role in this story, making Over My Dead Body less a novel of manners than the earlier books.

Warwick still has a stick up his bum, as is evidenced by the sole G-rated sex scene. Warwick’s idea of foreplay is to discuss his latest case with his wife while they’re getting undressed. But at least they’re getting undressed, which is an improvement from the earlier novels.

Archer brings a character named Ross to greater prominence in this novel. Ross acts as a counterbalance to “choirboy” Warwick. Having finished his undercover assignment, Ross becomes involved with a former hooker whose loyalty to Ross or to the forces of evil is not immediately clear. When Ross is given reason to seek revenge for an injustice, he does so untroubled by the law. This should give the moralizing Warwick fits, but he sublimates his law-and-order instincts to some degree, allowing a more interesting plot to develop than Archer achieved in the earlier novels.

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Turn a Blind Eye by Jeffrey Archer

Published by St. Martin's Press on April 13, 2021

William Warwick enters Turn a Blind Eye as a Detective Sergeant and leaves as a Detective Chief Inspector. That is the pattern in the Warwick novels. The young man starts from the bottom, completes an investigation with an arrest and a conviction (aided by his father, who prosecutes), and earns a promotion. His meteoric rise must be the envy of the Metropolitan Police.

The Warwick series divides William’s story into multiple novels — three so far. After a brief stint as a beat cop, Warwick put his art history education to use in the first book, where he met his nemesis, the wealthy Miles Faulkner. In the second book, Warwick moves to drug investigations, where he again encounters Faulkner, who has expanded his criminal repertoire from art forgery to drug distribution. In this third novel, Warwick moves into a new unit, the Met’s version of internal affairs, where he investigates corrupt cops.

Faulker dies and is cremated at an early point in the story, although nobody believes he’s really dead, least of all the reader. By the novel’s end, Warwick is again promoted and transferred to the murder squad. Faulkner is still at large and engaged in more scheming with his art collection. Warwick’s wife and Faulkner’s former wife continue to pursue their unlikely friendship.

The primary plot involves a bent copper named J.R. Summers, who investigates burglaries and helps himself to part of the loot. He’s particularly successful at busting members of a London crime family while spectacularly unsuccessful at gathering evidence against a rival crime family. That discrepancy leads to the obvious suspicion that Summers is corrupt. Summers becomes involved with a detective constable who apparently doesn’t understand the concept of birth control, leading Warwick and his cohorts to hope that she will merely experience heartbreak as a girlfriend rather than a conviction as a co-conspirator.

A second plot thread involves Assem Rashidi, another drug dealer. Warwick must testify against Rashidi, resulting from Warwick’s earlier stint in the drug unit. As always, the Crown is represented by Warwick’s father, Sir Julian, who is second chaired by Warwick’s sister. Why anyone thinks that a father questioning his son is a good idea is beyond me, given the likelihood that the defense will be pointing out the conflict of interest to the jury at every opportunity. The defense barrister, Booth Watson, instead focuses on a variety of dirty tricks. The Warwicks go up against Watson again in the novel’s second trial, this one involving Summers.

The trials are the best part of Turn a Blind Eye. None of the barristers are as clever as Rumpole, but courtroom clashes are always fun. Both sides get away with questioning that would never be allowed in an American courtroom, but perhaps British judges are more tolerant of unfair tactics.

As always, Warwick — whose commitment to rectitude has earned him the name “choirboy” — is a one-dimensional character, and that dimension is dull. As proof that Warwick has a personality, Jeffery Archer has Warwick and his father reciting historical facts and quoting great works of literature. To be a Warwick is to be admired by other Warwicks. I suppose being pompous and self-satisfied is indeed a personality, but it is not one anyone would admire other than similarly pompous and self-satisfied members of the British aristocracy. How Warwick managed to conceive his twins is a mystery, since he has no discernable interest in anything as messy as sex. He likely thought it was his duty to procreate. Warwick is all about duty.

None of these novels suggest that there is any gray area between good and evil. Good people are resolutely good and only a scallywag like Watson would defend the guilty. Readers who don’t want to grapple with the complex reality of life will probably find this series refreshing. The stories are certainly pleasant and the courtroom scenes, at least, are entertaining. Others might find the Warwick novels to be a bit one dimensional, if not dull. The novel’s ending isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but it does set up another confrontation between Warwick and Faulkner.

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Hidden in Plain Sight by Jeffrey Archer

Published by St. Martin's Press on November 3, 2020

Jeffrey Archer has been chronicling the early career of his fictional creation, William Warwick, who appears later in life in Archer’s Harry Clifton novels. In Nothing Ventured, Archer described Warwick’s efforts to thwart art forgers, a gig he scored by virtue of his degree in art history. Warwick begins Hidden in Plain Sight with a promotion to the rank of Detective Sergeant and reassignment to a new team that is chasing the big dog of London drug smuggling. “The Viper” runs a good chunk of London’s illicit drug market from the top three floors of a building that houses his manufacturing and distribution business. The location, however, is a mystery to the police.

Despite Warwick’s shift to the drug task force, an interesting plot thread continues the art theft plot that drove Nothing Ventured. Miles Faulkner, whose sentence for art fraud was suspended, attempts to foil Warwick’s marriage to Beth. Miles is having marital problems of his own, problems that motivate him to engage in a couple of new crimes to thwart his soon-to-be-ex-wife’s effort to take his house, his art collection, and pretty much everything he owns. By novel’s end, the degree of his success will be in doubt, setting up the continuation of the story in the next novel.

Hidden in Plain Sight takes place in 1986, when it was still considered wise to declare war on drugs rather than treating them as a public health problem. While the drug plot has Warwick playing a significant role in the effort to find the Viper’s den, Warwick learns that his nemesis Faulkner is also involved in drug distribution, at least with regard to his elite friends. Warwick recruits an informant who helps him catch Faulkner with drugs, but whether the evidence will stand up in court leads to a trial that provides another plot point.

The courtroom theatrics are provided by Warwick’s father, representing the Crown, and his sister, who prosecutes as her father’s junior. I always enjoy courtroom scenes and this one is entertaining, in part because a prosecution witness turns out to be unreliable. Still, while discussions of courtroom strategy are always fun, cases turn on evidence and the evidence made the outcome fairly predictable, strategic considerations notwithstanding. As Rumpole sometimes mused, it is easy to prove that guilty person is guilty. Getting a guilty person acquitted is the real courtroom challenge.

My only knock on William Warwick as a character is his stalwart and unblemished nature. Warwick is known as “choirboy” because he is resolutely proper in everything he does. My sense is that Archer means him to be an exemplar of the British upper-crust at their best (Warwick’s father, Sir Julian, is a QC and his sister seems destined to become one). People of resolute moral character, at least in fiction, tend to a bit one-dimensional. All members of the Warwick family dispense bits of trivia so we know they are learned, but it takes more than an ability to explain the origin of “Bob’s your uncle” to give a character a memorable personality. I’d like to see Warwick let his hair down and show us his naughty side, except he doesn’t seem to have one.

Warwick’s moral rectitude does, however, set up a personal conflict (can he remain a police officer if he must serve a corrupt master?) that remains at the end of the novel. Since the Harry Clifton novels answer that question, it isn’t a cliff-hanger, but the novel does set up a (presumably) final conflict between Warwick and Faulkner in the next novel.

On the whole, I enjoyed Hidden in Plain Sight more than Nothing Ventured. There are fewer scenes of Warwick family gatherings that tended to slow the first novel, while the plot moves more quickly and in more directions. Readers who want their crime novel protagonists to be righteous defenders of the law and virtue will likely admire Hidden in Plain Sight.

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