Maxwell’s Ride

Peter Maxwell can handle kids by the tens and dozens, but two nieces give him a little more pause. Thank goodness for Sylvia Matthews, who can always be relied upon to sweep up any waif, stray or relation into her welcoming arms. On a trip to a theme park, Maxwell’s ride on the log flume is a little more white-knuckle than he was expecting when a stray bullet whips past him and his charges before killing the accountant in the car behind. Who was that gunman on the grassy knoll?Deirdre Lessing has Maxwell foisted on her for a charity meeting and is none too happy – it seems unlikely, but could she have put a hit out, enraged beyond sanity at last by his failure to conform to her wishes? Unlikely indeed, but when the first victim is followed by more, and then Maxwell’s niece Tiffany disappears, it is a case of no more Mr Nice Guy – Mad Max is on the warpath. With Jacquie Carpenter by his side, and Henry Hall an exasperated step behind, Maxwell gets to the bottom of the case and finds that evil and greed can lurk in very unexpected places.‘The most sardonic wit in current crime fiction... one reads Trow for the brilliance of his writing.’Birmingham Post