Foiled Again — Peter Guttridge

An "accidental" death during a fencing match in New York and the definitely not accidental stabbing with a sabre of the promoter of the match in - of all places - Ramsbottom in Lancashire cannot be connected, surely?

Nick Madrid, fencer, yoga practitioner and accident-prone journalist aims to find out and his often erring aim takes him via a club for sado-masochists, a bizarre art exhibition called 'The Shock of the Poo', the history of the British Union of Fascists, a coven of aggressive Sylvia Plath devotees and the mystery of just why Madrid is such an unusual surname in Burnley.

Nick's hilarious stumbling after the truth takes him from the desolate Lancashire moors to the steamy swamps of Florida, pursued by Russian Mafiosi and Colombian drug dealers and, as usual, he manages to lose all his clothes (all done in the best possible taste, of course) and be attacked by the local wildlife.

Peter Guttridge's comic thrillers starring Nick Madrid combined 'a deep affection for the worst of Fleet Street' (The Guardian) with outrageous farce and the quickfire gags of a stand-up comedian. Minette Walters called them: 'Whacky...Hilarious...A great read' and Deborah Moggach rated them 'Great fun'.