The Big Grouse
By Douglas Clark
They’re investigating a murder. But no one has died.
There’s a new detective in town – Detective Sergeant Tippen – and her first case with Masters is his strangest one yet. As far as the Yard knows, there isn’t even a dead body, but the Assistant Commissioner’s wife is bothered because one of her relations has disappeared, and when an Assistant Commissioner’s wife is bothered, even Chief Superintendents have to jump to it.
There are no real grounds for starting an enquiry. The missing man is a sales rep for a plastics firm. He has a large territory and he might be anywhere. But slowly, piece by piece the Yard team uncover a murder, a motive, a method and a murderer. And what does talcum powder have to do with it?
The Big Grouse is a taut and intriguing police procedural that will satisfy fans of Stuart Macbride and James Patterson.
Douglas Clark was born in Lincolnshire, 1919. He served in the Royal Horse Artillery in the 7th Armoured Division in the desert, Italy, France and Germany. Later he served in Amphibious Warfare until, on leaving the army in 1962, he joined the staff of a multinational pharmaceutical company. He wrote over 20 crime novels and under other names, including James Ditton and Peter Hosier, and a number of plays for BBC radio.
