The Last Detective

When wealthy would-be painter Maurice Leyman dies drunk in a fire while shut up in his studio, Davies faces a classic "locked-door mystery." The victime's strangely cool widow certainly had the means and the motive. But the ever-plodding Davies refuses to settle for easy answers.

A spate of computer thefts from government offices, a possible suicide under the wheels of a high-speed train, an absconded lifer on the loose, and a grisly trove of human bones in a garden all conspire to keep Davies on the job during a long Easter weekend.

With a history of depression, a bloodstream full of booze, and a high-pressure job in medical research, Henry Winton seems like an open-and-shut suicide case after his body turns up in the canal. But the more Davies looks at SwanMed, the less he likes--particularly when Winton's pretty young coworker goes missing.

Brought to the station after nicking some sweets, a waifish Eastern European girl refuses to give even her name. What starts out as a simple case of shoplifting turns into apparent murder, however, after Davies finds the girl's mother strangled. The trail leads to some surprising suspects from a video matchmaking service.