by J. J. Marric
Part of Gideon, book 22
First published 1985
Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard confronts a crisis at Wellesley Estate, where violent crime has spiraled beyond police control. Muggings plague the streets. Rape victims fear to speak. Arson fires burn unchecked. The chaos deepens when two brothers die in a gangland execution that bears professional hallmarks. Meanwhile, a clairvoyant approaches the police with an extraordinary claim about a missing woman. She insists the kidnapped wife remains alive, held captive in a house that can be found if the authorities will only listen. Gideon must navigate between hard evidence and psychic intuition while violence threatens to consume the estate entirely. The commander faces mounting pressure to restore order, but conventional police methods have failed to stem the tide of crime. As the body count rises and the missing woman's fate hangs in the balance, Gideon discovers that solving these cases will require him to consider possibilities beyond standard investigative procedure.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unconventional-detective
Setting: Scotland Yard, Wellesley Estate
Period: 20th-century
191 pages · Hardcover · Stein and Day