The Deal of the Century — Ian Kennedy Martin

Sheikh Abu Hasif died on the third floor of the Wellington Clinic in London on Monday 12th April, 1976. His assassin emptied a whole clip from an M38 submachine gun into the man. It took off most of his head and right shoulder and left the bed headboard and part of the floor and walls reworked in technicolour. Detective Inspector Jack Regan of the Flying Squad begins his investigation with a search for a group of mysterious murderers among the rich of Belgravia and the richer inhabitants of the high life of the French Riviera At first sight it appears that leading Arab oil sheikhs and entrepreneurs have been murdered to warn others of their kind to pay over multi-million dollar blackmail sums in order to stay alive. But with Jack Regan digging deeper, the truth turns out to be something else again... This is the third of three Sweeney novels published at the time of the original series. Ian Kennedy Martin is the creator of Thames Television's enormously popular TV series.