4 Stars from me
This book encapsulated the classic noir of the the 1940s murder mystery films!
Starting with a local pimp found shot dead in a church on a starkly cold Christmas Day in post-war London (1947).
Once the deceased Raymond Jarrett’s flat has been searched, a gruesome discovering is made, he has pictures of young boys in compromising positions.
Shamus is hired to as a PI to investigate the case by Councillor Drake who owned the flat Raymond lived in. He uncovers a homosexual ring, blackmail, greed, corruption and bent coppers all with the assistance of an alluring and mysterious young female doctor.
The more Shamus investigates the more he finds in this fantastic dark noir tale.
Blurb: Two candles flaring at a Christmas crib. A nurse who steps inside a church to light them. A gunshot emptied in a man’s head in the creaking stillness before dawn, that the nurse says she didn’t hear. It’s 1947 in the snowbound, war-scarred City of London, where Pandora’s Box just got opened in the ruins, City Police has a vice killing on its hands, and a spooked councilor hires a shamus to help spare his blushes. Like the Buddha says, everything is connected. So it all can be explained. But that’s a little cryptic when you happen to be the shamus, and you’re standing over a corpse.
Read and Rated 