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The murder of a TV actor leaves too many suspects and too few clues to suit DCI Percy Peach (Wild Justice, 2009, etc.).

A drop in the crime rate should be just the thing for Brunton CIS’s Percy Peach. It would give him time to revel in his blissful new marriage to his comely ex-sergeant, the former Lucy Blake. But the lack of any real wrongdoing to investigate gives Peach’s superintendent, Tommy “Bloody” Tucker, the notion that Percy is just the man to help him negotiate the tension between the National Front and Brunton’s Asian population. Percy hates PR. What he wants is a nice juicy murder. And he gets his wish: Adam Cassidy, who stars in the wildly popular teledrama Call Alec Dawson, is found shot to death in his BMW off the A666. No question who hated Adam. He cheated on his wife Jane, blackballed his mentor Dean Morley from a recurring role on the show and did the same for Michelle Davies, even after bedding her. He canned his agent, Tony Valento, who’s connected enough to hire a hit man. And his brother Luke, who takes care of their aged father Harry, was frustrated with Adam’s neglect of the old man, the one person who idolized him. So there’s motive aplenty—but who had the means? That’s just what Peach and his new bagman, DS Clyde Northcott, mean to find out.

Another meat-and-potatoes procedural from the reliable Gregson.