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A Mediocre Man by A K Hill (view source)
Revision as of 16:47, 6 November 2012
, 16:47, 6 November 2012no edit summary
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Francis James Humbleton, the 'mediocre man' of the title is quiet and reserved, hardworking and a man of such regular habits that his neighbours can set their clocks by by his departure to work each morning. His life was unassuming, unnoticed by all but a very few and his death only came to light because his employers knew that something must be wrong when he didn't return to work after the Christmas break. Mr Humbleton had been murdered, at precisely (what else could it be?) 3am in what looked to be a burglary gone wrong. Only Mr Humbleton had nothing that was worth stealing and it's down to Detective Inspector Johnson and Detective Constable Smith to investigate his life as well as his death.
You might have the impression that this is going to be a dreary story from what I've told you but the first thing you'll notice is a gentle humour of the type which makes you smile - and read again for pleasure. Mr Humbleton is the Chief Filing Clerk in a Bank but makes little of the title because he's the only person in the department. The Board members at the Bank - Steele, Robb and Pocket Plc - had thought of installing a computerised system so that they could make economies by retiring Mr Humbleton, but one look at his ferociously efficient systems convinced them that it would be a foolish move - so they awarded themselves a large bonus in respect of the savings they made by ''not'' installing the computer system.