J. J. Marric is one of the many pseudonyms used by John Creasey…. The early books about Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard's C.I.D. are the best things in Creasey's large output. A C.I.D. Inspector who once lived next door to Creasey asked, "Why don't you show us as we are? You don't have to put in the dull part." The portrait of Gideon is an attempt to show a fully rounded character—excellent up to a point but marred in the end by excessive hero worship, and lack of humor. Apart from Gideon, the strengths of the books are those of other Creasey work, an apparently inexhaustible flow of ideas and the ability to generate excitement in describing action. The weaknesses are again characteristic, lack of the imagination necessary to vary a formula once it has been established,… and a level of writing...