Watching Out by
Ann Granger
hbk out April 03
Published by Headline
at £18.99
Fran Varady has easily survived the threats to her emotional and physical
well-being posed in Risking it all, and in this direct follow-on is now in the
midst of rehearsals for a production of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" in the
upstairs room of the local pub. The producer of the play, adaptor of the novel
and writer of the script is dyslexic, the rehearsal room is freezing, and the
Hound is a semi-trained monster belonging to a character known as Irish
Davey - but it's all experience towards Fran's Equity card.
She has come a long way since she first turned up, in the pages of Asking for
Trouble, jobless and living in a squat. Now, several homes (of various sorts)
later, she has her own flat for the first time and has a "real", if somewhat
insecure, job in a pizza restaurant. But this is Fran's world, and we should not
be too surprised when clouds appear on the horizon. She has always been
suspicious of the set-up at the Ristorante Pizzeria San Gennaro - why would
anyone employ Reeke Jimmie, owner of the late Hot Spud Café, as manager-
without-portfolio of a relatively upmarket pizzeria? And when Ion, an illegal
immigrant from Romania, comes in search of the man whom he believes can
lead him to his brother, Fran's suspicions crystallise and she becomes
convinced that the restaurant is a front for some sort of racket. As ever, she is
aided in her investigations, albeit reluctantly, by her good friend Ganesh -
and hindered slightly by Inspector Janice Morgan's suspicions of her
activities.
She's a terrific girl, Fran. She hasn't had an easy life at all, but she is
extraordinarily well-balanced and has survived with a great set of values and
all the right attitudes - well, some of them! Her next adventure can't come
soon enough.
Watching Out by
Ann Granger
