Lynne Truss is a columnist, writer and broadcaster whose book on punctuation Eats, Shoots & Leaves was an international bestseller. She has written extensively for radio, and is the author of six previous novels, as well as a non-fiction account (Get Her Off the Pitch!) of her four years as a novice sportswriter for The Times. On radio, she is currently engaged in writing a continuing sequence of short stories for Radio 4 entitled Life at Absolute Zero. Her columns have appeared in the Listener, The Times, the Sunday Telegraph and Saga. She lives in Sussex and London with two dogs.

A Times Crime Novel of the Year

In the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series, our trio of detectives must investigate the murder of a hapless romantic; an aristocratic con man on the prowl; and a dodgy Brighton nightspot...

It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker's queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him?

Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is - as ever - distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made and an unexpected arrival, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover.

Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the new instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.

A knockabout farce of mayhem and murder . A feast of black humour

A welcome second outing ... Lynne Truss is clearly having a great time - and so does the reader. There is a smile, giggle or guffaw on every page

[An] entertaining new crime series . Truss's affection for a rollicking, twisty caper has transferred to the page with ease . There's some fine storytelling on display here

Funny, clever, charming, imaginative, nostalgic and gently satirical

A farce that gathers hilarious pace with every page . More Marx Brothers than Agatha Christie, this is crime fiction turned on its head - a giddy spell of sheer delight

With plenty of brightly coloured bucket-and-spadery, including ghost trains and Punch and Judy and variety acts, this clever, tongue-in-cheek escapade is a perfect summer read

It takes a writer of Lynne Truss's wit and intelligence ... to take on both the cosy and comic fields, shaking them up to forge something fresh and beguiling ... Delightfully witty