The Doors Open
The Doors Open, published by xxx in UK and xxx in USA is the third novel by the British mystery and thriller writer Michael Gilbert. Like his first two books, it features Inspector Hazlerigg. Angus McMann, who was the protagonist of Gilbert's previous book, They Never Looked Inside, is briefly mentioned on the first page. As is Hazlerigg. Mentioned again on page 24.
Patrick (Paddy) Yeatman-Carter is the hero. One evening on the way home by train he deters Mr. Britten, a fellow passenger WWWW (and nearby neighbor), from shooting himself because of having just been fired his job as Junior Cashier at a large insurance company. The following evening, however, he learns that his neighbor's body has been found in a nearby river. The local police have no reason not to consider it suicide. Paddy, however, has vague suspicions and goes to long to interview the director of the company. He notices an employee, the Chief Cashier, acting suspiciously and soon after he himself is let go from his own job at a Chartered Accountant's office. He begins to follow the employee, who, he thinks, has been involving with his firing. This leads to a situation where he is about to be badly beaten up in a tony Italian restaurant but is saved by the fortuitous intervention of Major McMann, whom he had known during the War. He has also enlisted another youthful ally, a Mr. Noel Anthony Pontarlier Rumbold ("Nap") a junior solicitor in his father's firm. Had spent four months on dangerous missions with the French maquis in occupied Franceduring the war and is a Lieut.-Colonel, D.S.O. They suspect that the Chief Cashier may be up to "funny business" and that Britten had discovered it.
"Paddy... was typical of his class. A good regimental officer, with a capacity for hard work, a measure of persistence, and a good deal of loyalty towards that institution with which he happened to be connected. Not overgifted with brains perhaps...."
McMann describes the events to Hazlerigg on page 79 but is brushed off.