RUSSIAN ROULETTE

(Constable £8.99) A WOMAN is stabbed to death. The obvious suspect is her husband, who was beside her in bed when she died.

But first reactions are not to be trusted.

Not, at least, by Mirabelle Bevan, a private detective in post-war Brighton, whose experience in the Secret Service has prepared her for coping with the seamier side of South Coast nightlife.

As she delves into the lives of those close to the victim, she encounters a succession of threatening characters, from a Russian countess with a taste for high- stakes gambling who employs murderous thugs to do her bidding, to ladies who ply the oldest profession in the grand hotels.

With sharp blows delivered for gender and racial equality, Sheridan’s story builds to a chilling climax.