Monkey Wrench

The London Lassassin
A review of the Chatto and Windus hardcover (March 3, 1994).

'You really Bucket Nut?' one of the kids asked.
'What you think?' I said. 'And watch yer mouth or I'll show yer.'
'My dad says wresling's all an act.'
'Yeah?' I said, taking just one pace forwards. I could tell the kid was impressed. He took two paces backwards.
I was chuffed to buggery. This time last year no one knew me. Now I get recognized in the street. It goes to show I'm on my way.
'My dad says wrestlers are about as much use as jelly doorknockers,' the kid said. 'When it comes to real fighting...'
'Tell you what,' I said, 'you give me your dad's name and address, if you know it, and I'll see what he says when I push you through his letter box.'

Security show more guard Eva Wylie moonlights on the wrestling circuit as the villain character the London Lassassin aka Bucket Nut. Otherwise she keeps a low profile and tries to avoid the authorities and bureaucracy. She lives in a trailer at a car wrecking yard which she guards with two fierce dogs. She trains and showers at a local gym which is overseen by a wrestling promoter. Against her instincts she agrees to provide self-defense training for a group of local prostitutes, after one of them is fatally assaulted. Cody's private eye character Anna Lee (see below under Trivia) makes a cameo appearance when she asks Wylie to keep some sites free from squatters.

The setup and the follow-up scenarios here were well done along with the "tough-gal" banter. Cody builds an intriguing portrait of a downtrodden character who is nevertheless a legend in her own mind. Her contempt for most others is tempered with the occasional acts of kindness, even if there is often a mercenary incentive behind them.

The only thing keeping it out of 5-star territory for me was the somewhat downbeat ending which I don't want to spoil, but let us just say that it had a lack of a Chekhov's gun follow through. The various villains do meet with retribution, but not always from the expected sources and methods.

This is the 2nd in author Liza Cody's Eva Wylie trilogy (1992-1997). I did not have access to a copy of the 1st book.

I read Monkey Wrench thanks to a very enthusiastic review by GR friend Berengaria which you can read here.

Somewhat surprisingly I found this in the Toronto Library system as the single paper copy of any of Liza Cody's novels that were available for outside loan (a few others are reference copies only) and it is a copy from the actual 1994 first edition from Chatto & Windus in the UK.

Trivia and Links
Author Liza Cody is best known as the writer of the private detective Anna Lee series (1980-1991) which was adapted for a one season TV series in 1993 starring Imogen Stubbs as the lead character. Apparently Cody was so disappointed in the adaptations that she stopped writing any further books in the series, as otherwise the TV producers had the future adaptation rights.

Some promos and reviews say that Anna Lee was the first fictional female private detective, although P.D. James' Cordelia Gray came first in [book:An Unsuitable Job for a Woman|365307] (1972). James did not build a series character out of Gray though, with only a single late follow-up in [book:The Skull Beneath the Skin|46019] (1982). show less

#2 Eva Wylie mystery. The street-smart, tough female wrestler Eva Wylie (aka The London Lassassin) is back, this time reluctantly helping another old street friend Crystal, when her sister Dawn, a local doxie. is beaten and killed. Crystal has Eva attempting to teach self-defense to a group of prostitutes who hung out with Dawn, as they're naturally scared silly. It doesn't take long before Eva wishes she'd never laid eyes on the group, as they get her involved in several dodgy schemes, in trouble with her gym's owner, and put her in situations where her memories and emotions get stirred up, and trust me, you don't want to stir up Eva's emotions! Eva's got her problems, but I like her--she tells it like it is, even if 'like it is' is show more anything but pleasant. She has a total blind spot about her own self, but given her past life, that's not surprising. More details about her childhood come out in this book and it's heartbreaking at the same time you admire this tough survivor, even as your mind boggles at some of the choices she makes. Looking forward to the next--and sadly, last--book in this powerful trilogy. show less

Eva Wylie, professional wrestler