Summary

Private Investigator Sam Dyke is hired to find a man who’s been released from prison and subsequently gone missing. But the ex-con is an ex-cop who might have been imprisoned for a crime that he didn’t commit.

Working for the man’s daughter, Sam soon discovers that this isn’t just a missing persons case – there are other people involved, including the owner of a high-profile casino and a senior police officer.

And when the brutal representatives of an Asian gambling syndicate show up with their own brand of persuasiveness, Sam knows that he must put things right before he and everyone he loves become potential targets ...

"In this diverting crime novel, Sam Dyke, Crewe’s answer to Philip Marlowe, is asked to investigate the disappearance of a policeman—who was recently released from prison after serving time for buying and selling steroids—by his daughter, the enigmatic Anjelica Strange. Far from merely a missing person case however, it soon embroils Dyke with the owner of a high-profile casino and the brutal representatives of an Asian gambling syndicate."

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Extract

+++Despite what most people think about private investigators, I don’t spend all my time waiting in my office for beautiful blonde women with mysterious eyes and long legs to walk in and offer me money to find their missing relatives.
+++And the first time it happened, it was just my luck that she was brought by a cop.
+++His name was Howard, and I’d had a couple of dealings with him over the years. He was the very embodiment of the word Plod - although he was thin, almost bony, his demeanour was so heavy you felt that if he stood still long enough he’d grow roots.
+++So when he knocked and poked his head around my office door I wasn’t expecting much in the way of entertainment.
+++He glanced around the empty room and nodded.
+++‘You’re in, then.’
+++‘Apparently.’
+++‘Got a job for you.’
+++Perhaps I should have sat up straight and showed some enthusiasm, but to be honest I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm these days. Dan, my son, had got me involved in online trading in Bitcoins … and I’d done surprisingly well out of it. In fact, the income I’d made from trading in the last three months had outstripped my investigation earnings for the last two years.
+++Not so good for the motivation.
+++Now Inspector Howard opened the door wide and stepped back. A young woman walked past him and into my life.