A Conviction of Guilt — Lew Matthews

The unexplained murder of American PI Murdoch Finnegan at his flat in Belsize Park poses a complex mystery for Horatio T. Parker, chief crime reporter (and secret owner) of the Hampstead Explorer. Not only is the murder apparently motiveless, but it also emerges that in his will Finnegan has left Parker - already a multi-millionaire - a curious house in Golders Green.

Parker, slightly distracted by the gorgeous Samantha McDuff (a karate expert with an excruciating handshake), begins a dangerous investigation which leads him back to the horrifying abduction and murder of a little girl in 1970s London.

Parker's investigative methods are amusingly eccentric, and the story is enlivened by a Jewish policeman-cum-Talmudic scholar and Parker's chauffeur, a cheeky Cockney ex-cabby. But there is no humour in the story's climax, which plumbs the dark depths of fury and retribution.

Originally published under the author name Lew Matthews.