It Couldn't Matter Less — Peter Cheyney

"It's about that dame. I thought I oughta tell you. Somebody's bumped her."

It's wartime London. Inspector Gringall of the Yard, long-time friendly rival of private detective Slim Callaghan, sends Slim on a mission to meet Doria Varette, a torch singer at Ferdie's Place.

Callaghan knows Gringall has something up his sleeve. And when, backstage, Doria asks him to take on a job - to find her boyfriend Lionel Wilbery, a poet with the wrong friends and a drug problem - Callaghan finds Gringall has more than a missing person in his sights.

It Couldn't Matter Less was originally published in 1941.

'Peter Cheyney is the Damon Runyon of crime' The Times

'Slim Callaghan's quick wit and knowledge of rough and tumble place him in the top ranks of private eyes. What a man!' New York Times