Book Title Jokes — Number 005

There was a period about ten years ago when I hunted down second hand copies of Eric Ambler books and wolfed them down. He was, as far as I was concerned, a precursor of le Carré and his decidedly ant-Fascist sympathies appealed to me. It was certainly a change from the Buchan that my father favoured.

I knew that Penguin had issued a few Amblers in their Modern Classics series and included one I hadn’t read. So off I went to the local Waterstones.

I found only one Ambler. It had migrated to the crime section. Perhaps because the hero of The Mask of Dimitrios is a crime writer, whoever had shelved the book had been confused. No matter, this wasn’t the book I wanted.

I approached the till and caught the attention of woman working there.

“Hello,” she said. And smiled.

“Hello,” I said. I indicated vaguely with my left hand the expanse of the shop behind me. “I’m looking for Cause For Alarm.”

The Waterstones employee nodded a couple of times. Vigorously. “Well,” she said. “Theresa May or Andrea Leadsom. Take your pick.”