The Long Short Cut
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 Front cover of 1968 edition | |
| Author | Andrew Garve |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Published for the Crime Club by Collins |
| Subject | Confidence trick |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 166 |
The Long Short Cut is a 192-page novel by English author Paul Winterton using the pseudonym Andrew Garve. It was published by Harper and Row in April 1968.[1] It was the first book printed completely by electronically controlled typesetting (also known as electronic composition).[1][2]
Anthony Bliss and his glamorous collaborator Corinne Lake use a chance event to develop a money-making scheme. They happen to be at a nightclub on the night when the owner is wounded in a drive-by shooting. Called to give evidence which will convict a notorious gangster, Bliss pretends to be frightened of the gangster's associates, and agrees to testify only on condition he is given police protection and help in emigrating after the trial. Actually, he has worked out a plan to use the police protection as a means of helping a crooked financier to jump bail and get out of the country, and expects to be well paid for it. The bulk of the book consists of the detail of the plot, which includes an account of how to obtain a genuine British passport in a fictitious name, anticipating by three years the similar and more famous account given by Frederick Forsyth in The Day of the Jackal (1971). Naturally the plot does not go smoothly, and the author delivers a very sharp last-page shock.