Shamus Dust

In Shamus Dust Janet Rogers takes her readers back to the war damaged City of London of 1947.

It's Christmas time and a murder has been committed in the Square Mile.

It looks to be a so-called vice killing an a member of the City council wants to get to the bottom of the matter, or to hide his own involvement in the case, so he decides to hire a private detective.

The private detective who he hires is an American, called Newman.

Newman has lived in Britain for a couple of decades and perhaps isn't keen on taking the case which is on the recommendation of a former client.

But take the case he does.

As he works on the case, using his undoubted knowledge and skills as a detective, Newman begins to realise that the case is far more complex than it might have first appeared. That often happens when more deaths begin to occur in a "simple" case.

But what can Newman do? What should he do?

And what on earth did this have to do with archaeology?

Janet Roger's debut novel is what can only be described as a genuine tour de force. It's as if Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe had got bored with his life in Los Angeles and travelled to England and lived under the pseudonym of Newman and was asked to investigate a murder. Or series of murders.

Janet Roger takes her readers back to 1947, when the war was over, yet the damage still in many places yet to be repaired, exposing a great deal.

If you have a mystery fan to buy a Christmas present for, then this will be it.

It's published by Matador at £11.99.