Humorous cosy-crime caper from the author of the beloved, bestselling Vinyl Detective series in which a feisty, amoral book dealer uses her unique skills to solve fiendish crimes, A love letter to Agatha Christie murder mysteries and classic whodunnits.

Humorous cosy-crime caper from the author of the beloved, bestselling Vinyl Detective series in which a feisty, amoral book dealer uses her unique skills to solve fiendish crimes, A love letter to Agatha Christie murder mysteries and classic whodunnits.

When Erik Make Loud, retired rock star and a major World War Two nut, hires Cordelia, the Paperback Sleuth, to track down a series of lurid paperbacks about his favourite global conflict-the "Commando" novels by the blatantly pseudonymous Butch Raider-it seems like a routine job. But Cordelia soon discovers the final novel in the series, the incredibly rare Commando Gold, is all but impossible to track down.

The books' creator-real name Monty Harrington, once a promising young poet and now a depraved drunk-proves easier to find. Writing pulp war stories didn't come naturally to Monty. Until he met someone who knew all about such stuff during a pub crawl; a genuine ex-commando who, for the price of a pint or two, was willing to provide Monty with authentic anecdotes.

Too authentic, it turns out.

Because Commando Gold reveals the details of a real-life commando mission.

At the time the mission was top secret.

And all these years later, someone is quite prepared to kill to keep it so.