Blue Murder — Colin Watson

A car mowing its way through Flaxborough market (and almost over Constable Cowdry) dramatically signals the presence of fearless, crusading journalist - Clive Grail, bent on uncovering scandal in that town's quiet and overtly respectable back streets. In answer to published hints of revelations to come, the mayor issues a challenge of a bloodcurdling and - as Inspector Purbright patiently explains - illegal nature. However, the war of threats is not the worst of it. Those who play with blue films and blackmail often find themselves involved in more than they had bargained for; and soon Purbright finds himself striving to solve a much graver and more sinister crime... First published in 1979, Blue Murder is the tenth novel in the Flaxborough series and displays Watson's characteristic dry wit and striking observation. 'Flaxborough is Colin Watson's quiet English town whose outward respectability masks a seething pottage of greed, crime and vice... Mr Watson wields a delightfully witty pen dripped in acid.' Daily Telegraph 'Arguably the best, and certainly the most consistent of comic crime writers, delicately treading the line between wit and farce... Funny, stylish and good mysteries to boot.' TIME OUT