Hachette India

The Doors Open

Michael Gilbert

It's post World War and just about cold-war era England, and the beginnings of spies in high places. First Yeatman-Carter, then Nap, and finally Cedarbrook, become suspicious of the activities of a venerable, well-known London insurance company that is now being run, unbeknownst to its august Board of Directors, in a fraudulent manner by its manager, James Legate. Although Legate is actually a long-time, clandestine Communist, possibly even a Soviet agent, Legate is a competent businessman who has made Stalagmite into an important company while making himself a very wealthy man. He is, however, in actuality, defrauding the company, knowingly bringing it close to financial ruin, and feathering his own nest in the process. As Paddy, Nap, and Cedarbrook try to determine what is actually happening, Legate takes ruthless action to defend his position, instigating at least two murders and attempting to kill, or at least seriously injure all three of the amateur investigators. Legate represents a recurring character in many of Gilbert's novels: an apparently upright, prosperous businessman who is actually either the secret head of a criminal organization or simply a dishonest and highly corrupt man of affairs.

Michael Gilbert

Michael Francis Gilbert CBE TD (17 July 1912–8 February 2006) was an English solicitor and author of crime fiction.

Gilbert, from 1920 to 1926, attended St. Peter's School in Seaford, East Sussex, and then, from 1926 to 1931, he attended Blundell's School in Tiverton, Devon. He began to study law at London University but was unable to finish due to financial concerns. After becoming a schoolmaster at Salisbury Cathedral School, Gilbert returned to studying law, receiving his degree in 1937 and graduating with honours. It was at this time that he began to work on his first mystery novel, Close Quarters.

During the Second World War, Gilbert served with the British Army in North Africa and Italy with the Honourable Artillery Company. In 1943, he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war in northern Italy, near Parma. Along with Eric Newby and Tony Davies, Capt. Gilbert escaped after the Italian surrender later that year, their escape involving a 500-mile journey south to reach the Allied lines. In 1947, Gilbert joined the London law firm of Trower, Still & Keeling in Lincoln's Inn. Eventually becoming a partner there, he practised law with the group until his retirement, in 1983.

Gilbert's writing career spanned the years 1947 to 1999, with his final work being Over and Out (published in 1998). The genres his fiction novels enveloped included police procedurals, spy novels, short stories, courtroom dramas, classical mysteries, adventure thrillers, and crime novels. In addition to his novels, Gilbert wrote several stage plays along with numerous radio and television plays. In 1980, Gilbert was made a CBE. Writing honours include a Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association for lifetime achievement in 1994, and being named a "grandmaster“ by the Mystery Writers of America in 1988.

One of Gilbert's earliest works, Smallbone Deceased (1950), was included in crime-writer H. R. F. Keating's list, Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books.

Gilbert married Roberta Mary Marsden in 1947; together the couple had two sons and five daughters. One daughter, Harriett, born in 1948, became a novelist and broadcaster for BBC World Service. Gilbert died at the age of 93, on 8 February 2006, at his home in Luddesdown, Gravesend, Kent. He was survived by Roberta, his wife of nearly sixty years, and all of their children.