Sowerbutt's Slap

Sowerbutt looked shell-shocked, his face turning as white as a sheet. “I’m married.” The slap resounded around the flat. “You bastard, Sorbay,” Polly shouted. “You said she was dead. You buried her and you dealt with her killer. What she has risen from the grave?”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Proposal

“Sorbay,” Polly snapped. “Stop talking nonsense. Haven’t you got something to say to me on bended knee. Or do you want your son born a bastard?”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Baby

“It’s a baby’s cap,” the tall man said. “You’ve started a knitting business without telling me. Aaah, one of the girls is pregnant and you were out buying baby clothes.” It was a sight Polly said she would remember for the rest of her life. Sowerbutt floated off the settee and stood over her, his eyes wide. He held her face in his hands. “You’re having a baby, you’re pregnant.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Ribs

Sitting down on the settee, Sowerbutt said: “Dot said you were out somewhere. I put on my famous charm but I couldn’t get a word out of her. You have secrets, Polly, a handsome young man tucked away somewhere.” He grunted as Polly jabbed her fingers into his ribs. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Warning

A couple of blocks away, Panda unbuttoned his leather coat, the food inspector wincing as she saw his shotgun. “This is where you scarper, love. You are getting off lightly,” he said. “I don’t care what you food people do elsewhere in the Smoke, but tell your guv’nor not to send any more of you lot down here. Your men will go in The River, women will get their heads shaved. And I’ll personally track down your guv’nor and pull the trigger on what his wife values dearly.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Justice

With tempers rising and all eyes watching the indignant food inspector, no-one noticed Panda bending over her shopping bag. “Hang on, she’s a crook,” Panda shouted. Waving a copy of the Daily Mirror, he said: “Been a robbery of ration cards at the Food Office in Romford. Inside job, I know. The paper’s printed the numbers.” Pointing to the inspector’s bag, he said: “Two of them are here, probably more in her pocket. A bent officer of the law, trying to get supplies on the side while us lot go without. The magistrate won’t like that. Prison, I’d say.” 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Rations

"Don’t you tell me what to do, you little pipsqueak,” snapped the woman, peering through her glasses. “I’m a food inspector and this woman here was going to sell me a quarter of chuck steak without a ration coupon. That’s a criminal offence and she’s going up before the magistrate. We’ve got to stamp out the black market, set an example.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Shadow

“May I introduce your new best friend, Mr McGaskie. The story is that he was with you in Wandsworth as well as in the Black Maria from which you absconded. He will stay with you through thick and thin,” the slight military man smiled. “His orders are to shoot you if he has any doubts about your new loyalties. Kneecaps first and then gut.” The squat man, who looked as though he was made of solid muscle, stretched out his hand, grabbed McGaskie’s shaking fingers and kissed them. “Buffalo, they call me Buffalo,” he guffawed. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Revolution

Churchill's eyes twinkled. "You have much to tell me, Brendan. Are we on the verge of revolution? Will the Reds seize the streets of our great city and murder us in our beds? I will call the Army out, round them up and shoot them. Or would it be more tactful to detain them, send them to the detention camps with the Mosleyites?”
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Lament

Churchill gripped the railing, tears wellng in his eyes. “The heart of our great empire ravaged night after night. Death and destruction raining down on our innocent London families. Houses and offices laid waste. Buildings of great beauty, from the inspired mind of Wren, reduced to heaps of rubble. I will not have it.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Weather

“Sir, it is freezing up here. You will give yourself a chill; at this juncture Britain cannot afford to have her Prime Minister bed-ridden,” Brendan Bracken said. He was wearing a heavy Donegal tweed overcoat, trilby, thick scarf and gloves. Churchill was well wrapped up. Long black overcoat, homburg, silk scarf and wool-lined gloves. “Grant me a moment to gaze upon my poor wounded London.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Letter

“We’ve have gone to much trouble to get here to Rhodos,” the colonnello from the 2^nd Blackshirt Division said. “This letter is of the highest importance. His Majesty trusts you to deliver it in Ankara as soon as possible. Guard it with your life, my friend.” He waved to the girl serving the tables in the café overlooking Mandraki Harbour to bring another pot of coffee and more baklava.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Repository

Jo-Jo said. “I’ve had a chat with my mate, the porter from the National Gallery. He says you need to store paintings in a room with a steady temperature and you need what he calls a certain moisture content in the air. First step is that we are building an airtight room inside the barn – the lads worked over Christmas. I’m tracking down the machinery in the Smoke for the heating, ventilation and keeping the place dry. Part of the repository can be for cash and documents. Ordinary safe deposit boxes for jewellery – got a load from a bombed-out bank."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Guest

Polly said. “We have a guest arriving at the cottage in the next day or two. Angel, get the place aired, beds made up. Professor Harold Whistler from London University.He’s some sort of expert on the Jerries, working for the Gingernut on special projects. The good news is that the stoppers, the local WarAg and all the other nosey-parker officials have been told we are off limits – national security. Which means, gentlemen, that as long as we are discreet, we can do what we like."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Promise

Sowerbutt turned to the prison van driver and his mate, their hands raised. “Sorry about the trouble, lads. I’ll see you right when this blows over. Mum’s the word.” He turned to One-Line and Panda. “Sit them down by the wheel, rope and gag them. Don’t want the stoppers thinking they were part of it.”

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Break-In

Spaghetti jammed the crowbar inside the clasp and heaved. Sowerbutt stood to one side, his Webley pointing at the prison van door. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG

geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Knife

The slight woman with short grey hair stood well; she had once danced with the Imperial Russian Ballet. “Given the choice, I would have used a knife, Mr Sorbay, a sharp knife. But we will do as you ask, we’re professionals.” Several men in the room took her meaning and slipped their hands between their legs.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG

geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Snatch

The pasty-faced driver swallowed his shout, “It’s a hold-up”, as a giant, wearing a balaclava with eye-holes, wrenched the prison van door open and pointed a Webley revolver at his head. On the other side, a slight man, dressed in a long leather coat and a balaclava, aimed a shotgun at his grey-haired companion.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG

geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Fireworks

“Blimey, Bonfire Night. What’s going on here?” The grey-haired man stared through the windscreen of the Leyland prison van. Bursts of red, gold, silver and orange shot over the street, a stone’s throw from Clapham Common.  Sprays of glittering stars, splashes of colour. To the side, bunches of crackers, tied together with rafia, snapped and fizzed as they jumped along the pavement. Fountains whooshed gold, silver and green stars towards the overcast sky. 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG
geoffreyhowe.wix.com/howebooks

Sowerbutt's Funeral

The low growl at the back of the Dalmatian’s throat was enough to send shivers up a brave man’s spine. Hackles rising and teeth bared, the dog watched as the latecomers made their way across the cemetery.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Smoke-London-Sowerbutt-Novels-ebook-x/dp/B00RYR8BWG