Victor Canning: Young Man on a Bicycle (UK 2020)

From the Publisher:
Young Paul Ashcroft has travelled to the beautiful French Riviera. His goal: to make a lot of money. His methods: more than questionable. Following his motto 'the world owes me a living', he steals and swindles - using what he needs for himself and passing on the rest to those less fortunate.

After coming across the beautiful Villa Triton, he disguises himself as M. Durobat, a middle-aged Frenchman, to inspect the villa and to pawn the owner's ornaments and paintings. At the local Casino, he becomes acquainted with the rich ladies of the resort. As he steals their jewellery, he blames the robberies on 'Gringo the Greek', a small crook he knew a long time ago.

But just as Paul's schemes and tricks start to be fruitful and he falls in love with the intriguing Elise Benoit, the real Gringo the Greek appears on the scene, ready to take on the cunning thief who has been blaming him all this time...

Victor Canning: Young Man on a Bicycle. And The Goldini Bath. Farrago, ISBN: 9781788422734 (October, 2020), 176 p., £8.99, eBook £2.99.

Victor Canning: Young Man on a Bicycle (UK 1958)

From the Publisher:
Young Man on a Bicycle is the title-story of a collection of four contes by this well known author. The title-story is a delightful picaresque yarn about a young man who plays Robin Hood on the Riviera. Witty, well-balanced and full of surprises, it has the sophisticated freshness of a René Clair film. Of the other three stories: Adriatic Crossing is a tautly exciting tale of crime in the Adriatic. Oasis 9 is an account of cobalt-smuggling in North Africa. The Goldini Bath is the story of a fabulous gold bath belonging to the Count of Roccaspart, and the efforts made to prevent its removal by the inhabitants of that remote village.

Victor Canning: Young Man on a Bicycle. And other Stories. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1958, 176 p., 2'6.