Mr American. George Fraser MacDonald

       George MacDonald Fraser

      MR AMERICAN

       Copyright

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, chaarcters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      Harper

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      Previously published in paperback by Collins Harvil 1992 Reprinted four times

      First published in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd 1980

      Copyright © George MacDonald Fraser 1980

      Acknowledgement is due and gratefully given to Peter Newboldt for permission to quote from Sir Henry Newboldt’s “The Fighting Temeraire” and to B. Feldman & Co. Ltd. for permission to quote from “Everybody’s Doing It (Now)” and from “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”; and to Herman Davewski Publishing Co. for permission to quote from “Goodbye Dolly Gray”.

      George MacDonald Fraser asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780006470182

      Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2016 ISBN: 9780007458431 Version: 2016-10-04

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Part One

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

       9

       10

       11

       12

       13

       14

       15

       Part Two

       16

       17

       18

       19

       20

       21

       22

       23

       24

       25

       26

       27

       Keep Reading

       About the Author

       By the Same Author

       About the Publisher

Part One

       1

      Inspector Griffin came down to the landing-stage on a raw autumn morning to see the Mauretania berthing. It was part of his job; there was always someone from the detective department on hand when the American liners docked, but for Inspector Griffin it was a pleasure, too. He loved the bustle of the wharf at dawn, and the sight of the huge iron ship edging gently into the quay, the busy little tugs, the squealing whistles, the propellor churning the yellow Mersey into dirty foam; he even enjoyed the bite of the wind and the cold drizzle which was causing his colleague, young Constable Murphy, to hunch his collar round his chin as he stamped his feet on the wet flags. To Murphy it was just another tedious chore; he wiped his nose and glowered at the low clouds over the river.

      “Won’t be