Lestrade and the Sign of Nine — M.J. Trow

It was a puzzle that had faced Scotland Yard from its very beginning - whose was the limbless body found among the foundations? And in the murderous world of Sholto Lestrade, one question is invariably followed by another - what do a lecherous rector, a devious speculator and a plagiarist novelist have in common?

Answer: they''re all dead, each of them with a bloody space where his skull used to be. And six others are to join them before our intrepid Inspector brings the perpetrator to book.

But 1886 was a bad year for the Metropolitan Police. The People of the Abyss have heard the whisper and the spectre of Communism haunts the land. There is a new Commissioner, a regular martinet, at the Yard. And then there is that very odd couple, sometime of Baker Street...

Lestrade braves haunted houses, machine gun bullets and two Home Secretaries in his headlong hunt for the truth. And this is the story that chronicles his legendary impersonation of the legendary Sarah Bernhardt. The Police Review was never the same again.

''It''s an authentic whodunnit with a surprising twist at the end you''ll kick yourself for not guessing sooner.''
Punch