Therefore, the story stands out from a lot of it's peers. This is more of a psychological study of murder and motive than the standard detective yarn of the period, and explores how the culprit tries to avoid being discovered. It may lack in suspense but makes it up with good characterisation.
The interesting premise may though be the best part about the story, the initial part especially is a bit of a slog though it does pick up later on.
One plot involves the kidnapping and ransoming of VIPs by a highly professional couple. The Secret Service are completely flummoxed as to who the kidnappers are but suspect they are planning their big job. Indeed, they kidnap the Archbishop of Canterbury and want a fortune in diamonds for his release.
The other plot involves a medium and her lover / assistant who are employed by a rich older woman to find her long-lost nephew. Trying to find this nephew is very difficult but they finally do succeed... but you can guess who it turns out to be!
A good book, a slow start is ultimately very rewarding. The characters are well written and the demise of one of them hits hard. The book ends on a pretty dark note as well. Interestingly, the story was adapted into a film called Family Plot, which was Alfred Hitchcock's last film.
This book is a hilarious satire on capitalism and marketing. Caesar sends his young protege Preposterus to Gaul to corrupt the Indomitable Gauls using the profit motive. He creates a fake demand for menhirs and begins to corrupt Obelix and later other villagers in the pursuit of profit...
This is utterly wonderful stuff, packed full of nonsense and often biting satire. We have the memorable scene where Preposterus (who is said to have been based on a young Jacques Chirac!) tries to explain the concept of marketing to Caesar, the gaudy fashions of the nouvelle rich villagers and the Romans trying to get a piece of the menhir action.
Naturally it all ends happily ever after and our friends return to their simple rustic lifestyle of hunting and eating boar and fighting, uncorrupted by bags of money! Goscinny and Uderzo were at the height of their powers here, it is a shame that this was the last book written by Goscinny to be published before he passed away.
This is still a busy line now, both for passenger and freight traffic though a lot of the industry has gone now and some of the intermediate stations between Liverpool and Runcorn are also no more.
The line ran past a parkland near where my Uncle and Auntie lived in south Liverpool. When i was a little kid and we went up there, i always liked to go up to where the railway line was and hear, if not really see, the frequent trains going past. I've been past on train now many times. I always think of those times.
Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool South Parkway (a more recent addition) and Runcorn are interesting stations which are well worth a visit.
Ben is the main character of this tale, a good old gentleman of the road who stumbles upon mysterious, and even murderous, goings on in the house opposite the one he is squatting in.
Ben is reluctantly drawn in to try and solve the mystery. The story is fairly unusual, and the main character is quite novel, but at times i found the story a bit hard going. I've always found dialogue written in a strong dialect is a bit tedious to read but i suppose it makes Ben more authentic. Once the story gets going its worth the read but getting there (without giving up) takes a bit of effort.
Early on in this annual there is a hint, the story TV or not TV features the kids as TV mad and watching breakfast TV. It is likely this is mentioned due to breakfast TV being new and novel at the time, that would put the stories in this annual around the 1983 time frame.
Olive also appears as the cook and she did not feature until 1981, earlier annuals had different and unnamed school cooks (though just as inept!)
This is a good annual anyway, not quite as good as the annuals released in the 1980s which featured strips from the 1960s and 1970s, a true golden age.