DCI Harry Brock (Gunrunner, 2011, etc.) eats, drinks and makes merry while investigating the murder of three con artists.
Since the van set alight in Richmond has German plates, Brock calls Kriminalhauptkommissar Horst Fischer of the Essen police to help identify the two charred bodies inside. Hans Eberhardt and Trudi Schmidt turn out to be grifters who specialized in selling shares in phony companies to pensioners. Their co-conspirator, Nigerian Samson Adekunle, also turns up dead with a letter of reference from a New York real estate agent in his Clancy Street apartment. So Brock and his sergeant, Dave Poole, seize the opportunity to visit Joe Daly at the U.S. Embassy. Unfortunately, instead of the T-bone steak rumored to be on offer, all they get is some Scotch and the opportunity to watch the diplomat verbally abuse his secretary (“Darlene, just hightail your sweet little butt in here one second.”) Daly doesn’t know squat about Adekunle or his scam. When the investigation stalls, Brock and Poole travel to Essen, where they drink beer, watch Fischer smack barmaids playfully on the rump and view pornographic movies starring Trudi Schmidt. More stalling. Brock contemplates a trip to the Bahamas to trace the loot Adekunle stashed there but settles for watching his girlfriend, Gail Sutton, and her pal Charlotte Hunter romp topless in the pool. Eventually, a witness offers a random bit of information that helps Brock crack the case and settle down with “a well-deserved glass of ale.”
Brock and Poole’s latest outing makes you want to phone Inland Revenue and complain.
