The Manasco Road

Victor Canning

Apr 2013 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

In the beginning it seemed a simple enough job. The contract to salvage the cargo of the Doria, wrecked off the Majorca coast, was straightforward and promised a nice profit for Nick Thorne and his Spanish partner, Domingo Peroni. But the only road from the beach to the market where the cargo must be sold ran through the private grounds of Casares Manasco, whom Peroni had offended.

So this matter of business rapidly developed into a duel between the powerful, implacable Manasco and Nick, who was urged on by a blind necessity to fight when the odds seemed impossible.

About the author

Victor Canning was primarily a writer of thrillers, and wrote his many books under the pseudonyms Julian Forest and Alan Gould. Among his immediate contemporaries were Eric Ambler, Alistair Maclean and Hammond Innes.

Canning was a prolific writer throughout his career, which began young: he had sold several short stories by the age of nineteen and his first novel, Mr Finchley Discovers His England (1934) was published when he was twenty-three. Canning also wrote for children: his The Runaways trilogy was adapted for US children’s television.

Canning’s later thrillers were darker and more complex than his earlier work and received great critical acclaim. The Rainbird Pattern was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger in 1973 and nominated for an Edgar award in 1974.

In 1976 The Rainbird Pattern was transformed by Alfred Hitchcock into the comic film Family Plot, which was to be Hitchcock’s last film. Several of Canning’s other novels including Golden Salamander (1949) were also made into films during Canning’s lifetime.