The party girls of London are being targeted in a nefarious plot in the first Patrick Dawlish mystery from the Edgar Award–winning author.
For a big bruiser of a man, Patrick Dawlish is as nimble as can be when it comes to solving crime. And all of his physical and intellectual strength will be needed when his life takes a decidedly violent turn . . .
First, Dawlish realizes he’s being followed. Then, Diana Lefroy, heiress to millions, appeals to him for help. She’s being blackmailed by someone who has already killed two other local socialites whose deaths were ruled as suicides. After a good friend’s assault and a shooting, Dawlish is warned by Scotland Yard not to take matters into his own hands. The problem is, when Dawlish takes the reins, he gets results. And whoever is putting the fear of death into London’s most wealthy women is about to learn that lesson well.
John Creasey, born in 1908, was a paramount English crime and science fiction writer who used myriad pseudonyms for more than six hundred novels. He founded the UK Crime Writers’ Association in 1953. In 1962, his book Gideon’s Fire received the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of the characters featured in Creasey’s titles became popular, including George Gideon of Scotland Yard, who was the basis for a subsequent television series and film. Creasey died in Salisbury, UK, in 1973.