First published as Direct Hit
Saturday 7th September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of
the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their
country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens
heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has
abruptly ended - but crime has not.
That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back
streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the
scene, he recognises the victim: local Justice of the Peace, Charles
Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates
all evidence. War or no war, murder is still murder, and it's Jago's job
to find the truth.