The Devil in Amber
A Lucifer Box Novel
1
Fallen Idle
He was an American, so it seemed only fair to shoot him.
I'd already winged the beggar once - somewhere in the region of his flabby calves - and was now in hot pursuit with the tenacity for which I'm mildly famous. For reasons too dreary to dwell on, I found myself clinging to the running board of a motor car, wind whipping at my face, positively pelting through the choked streets of Manhattan. Ahead of me loomed the gorgeous elegance of the new Chrysler Building, thrusting like a sword into the cold, brilliant blue sky. Ice and sun glinted off its exterior; sharp as a pin in the eye.
For those of you not in the know (dear me, where have you been?), my name is Lucifer Box: painter, occasional memoir-scribbler and agent (most secret) for His Majesty's Government. Sad it is to relate that my artistic career was somewhat in the doldrums. Fashion, that gay but inconstant dog, had moved on and I was regarded with some suspicion by the bright lads of the new school. Passé, old-hat, pre-War (the Great one, you understand: although there'd been nothing pa ... read full excerpt from The Devil in Amber: A Lucifer Box Novel ebook
