Circles and Squares — John Malcolm

To suggest that the Pimlico murder of a dubious lady calling herself Bassington has anything to do with Tim Simpson makes him extremely indignant. He is far too busy tracking down paintings by Sir William Nicholson and his abstract son Ben Nicholson for White's Art Fund, as well as looking into an investment in a film and photographic archive for his superiors at White's Bank.
But the murder victim was a film researcher and Tim's name is in her diary. And Tim's old rugby-playing friend Chief Inspector Nobby Roberts of Scotland Yard is irritatingly insistent. Past history makes Nobby suspicious. Even worse, the dynamic Anglo-French businessman soliciting the film archive investment appears to want to pre-guess Tim on the Bank's next art purchase.
It is not long before Tim, visiting a South African dealer friend in Hastings who owns fake Nicholsons, is involved in violence himself. The issue is even more complicated by the strange recurrence of references to the Finch-Hattons - relatives of the celebrated Denys of Out of Africa fame - and even Iris Barry, ex-mistress of Wyndham Lewis and film expert. It will take all of Tim's esoteric interest in art history and every ounce of his energy to bring the bewildering set of events to a dramatic conclusion.