The Black Company by W. B. M. FergusonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A young man who has inherited unexpected wealth from his uncle and then succumbed to his family's tendency to alcoholism happens across a mysterious criminal gang calling itself the Black Company, and themed on chess. He manages to become sober, encouraged by his also-chance-met love interest, and insists on investigating, despite the danger.
There are lots of unexpected twists, in some of which a situation I was expecting to continue for a while is resolved and replaced with another situation. On the other hand, there are also a few tropes - the chance encounter, the Convenient Eavesdrop, falling into the obvious trap.
Still, it's action-packed, suspenseful, and if not quite as good as, say, Edgar Wallace or Johnston McCulley, it's very much in the same mould. I have to say, the love interest didn't interest me - she was high-handed and moody and had almost no other characteristics - but each to their own.
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