BrokenTune

I loved The Lawrence Affair. It was full of suspense and quite bonkers towards the end. It still had all of the hallmarks of Paul Temple story, and Steve was again showing her pluckiness. 

Why am I mentioning Steve's fortitude? 

Well, I've moved on to the next story The Spencer Affair, and I've noticed that Paul has told Steve at least three times already to either stay home, stay out of danger, or withheld information from her ... for her protection. 

WTF?

I'm intrigued as to whether there is a progression in these stories where Steve's role gets shoved into the background of being Paul's wife rather than part of the investigation. 

It would be a shame if this was the case, because this absolutely was not what the premise of the first Paul Temple story.

So far, The Spencer Affair is really weak. Apart from the issues around Steve, all we have so far is a couple of helpless damsels getting murdered, which again is quite the contrast to The Lawrence Affair.

I don't think this one (The Spencer Affair) is going to be a favourite.

EDIT:

Grr. This story is annoying me. We had a scene where Steve receives a phony phone call from someone impersonating Paul, she picks up that it's not Paul by something he says and decides to phone the number of where she thinks Paul is. She reaches him and they confirm that the previous call was a trap. 

When they and their Inspector friend meet up again Paul and the Inspector laugh Steve's ingenuity off as "luck" and her finding and investigating a wire in their flat is dismissed as "women's intuition". 

This story is pretty crap, especially when compared to earlier adventures.

Initial post about this collection here.