They Never Looked Inside

[2] The events take place mostly in post-World War II London, in either 1945 and '46 or 1946 and '47—it is difficult to put an exact date on them—and in one extended scene in France.

They are told by an omniscient third-person narrator but most of the scenes involve either Inspector Hazlerigg and the workings of the Metropolitan police department or the activities of a recently mustered-out Army veteran, Major Angus McMann.

It was the first of a number of novels Gilbert would write over his exceptionally long career in which organized gangs and criminal masterminds figure, both in London and, less often, in Europe.

Major McMann, now living temporarily at his elderly sister's home, tells Hazlerigg at their initial meeting, "I'm at a loose end.

Upon its publication in the United States Anthony Boucher, the mystery critic of the New York Times, called it "a convincing and warmly realistic suspense story," and added that it was "a first novel to make you look forward hopefully to more Michael Gilbert.