In the latest installment of this prize-winning crime mystery series, our trio of redoubtable detectives are faced with the arrival in town of an escaped convict...

It's September in Brighton and the town is playing host to weeks of endless rain and lashings of villainy.

A trusted member of a local gang has disappeared part way through planning a huge heist; a violent criminal obsessed with hunting policemen has escaped Broadmoor and is rumoured to be headed towards the town, while at Gosling's department store an American researcher has been found dead in the music section.

Inspector Steine has other things on his mind as he typically bathes in unearned glory, but Sergeant Brunswick and Constable 'Clever Clogs' Twitten are both on the case.