Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers — Ellis Peters

An English hitchhiker disrupts a criminal's plans in this caper gone wrong from the Edgar Award�"winning author of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael.
 
On the road to a new town and a new life, William Banks is grateful to Alf, the somewhat seedy stranger who gives him a lift. In return, the unworldly young man is more than happy to deliver a package for his benefactor to a specific address in Braybourne.
 
He has no idea, however, that his driver has chosen him to serve as a patsy in a sinister plot to retrieve £250,000 stolen earlier from a Braybourne bank -- and that, if the scheme succeeds, William Banks will be dead before sundown.
 
But with the help of Calli, a lass William encounters along the way, and a dose of blind luck, he is able to avoid a most unpleasant end. Now he and Calli will somehow have to steer clear of London gangsters, as well as the original thief and his vengeful entourage, while further derailing Alf's insidious plot without getting shot, stabbed, strangled, or blown to smithereens in the process.
 
The Edgar, Agatha, and Gold Dagger Award�"winning author delivers a funny, edgy stand-alone crime novel. “Charm is not usual in murder mysteries, but Ellis Peters' stories are full of it.” -- The Mail on Sunday