Levkas Man

Ah, Levkas Man (1973)_ by Hammond Innes — that dependable purveyor of windswept masculinity, nautical peril, and men who can fix carburettors using only moral fibre and a piece of string.

In this sun-bleached slice of Mediterranean menace, we are whisked to the Greek island of Levkas (now Lefkada, if we’re being modern about it), where the sea is blue, the politics are murky, and absolutely nothing is as relaxing as the tourist brochure suggested. Innes, patron saint of competent blokes in uncomfortable climates, once again delivers a hero who would rather mend an engine in a gale than discuss his feelings — and frankly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

There are wrecks. There are secrets. There are shadowy wartime legacies lurking beneath deceptively tranquil waters. There is a boat that may or may not survive. And there is that particular Innes flavour of suspense where you learn more about marine engineering than you ever expected, and yet somehow you’re grateful. You finish the book feeling you could probably pilot a trawler, dive on a wartime wreck, and dismantle a smuggling ring before breakfast.

Published by Fontana in the golden age of paperback seriousness, this edition (ISBN: 0006129455) comes to you in Good condition, which in Crappy Old Books dialect means: perfectly readable, faintly foxed perhaps, possibly bearing the gentle creases of a previous owner who once dreamed of escaping to the Ionian Sea but instead read about it on a damp Tuesday in Croydon. The cover may feature dramatic typography and/or a brooding maritime scene. It knows what it’s about.

Levkas Man is ideal for:

• Readers who like their thrillers salted with brine and stoicism

• Anyone nostalgic for the era when adventure meant practical competence rather than ironic detachment

• Those who enjoy suspense that smells faintly of diesel and sea spray

In short, this is vintage Hammond Innes: intelligent, atmospheric, and faintly windswept. A novel for people who suspect that beneath every picturesque harbour lies a conspiracy — and who would quite like to investigate it themselves, provided someone else handles the actual diving.

Available now from Crappy Old Books, where the sea may be calm, but the shelves are gloriously unpredictable.

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