Single Shot — Ron Ellis

Selina Stark, budding star and celebrity on the Liverpool media circuit is found dead, murdered by a single gunshot wound to the head. Although a man is convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years in what looks like an open-and-shut case, not all of Merseyside's finest are convinced the right man is in jail. But after nearly a year, the trail is surely cold and private eye Johnny Ace is reluctant to take up the challenge.

Anyway, he has enough problems. A client has been killed while under the protection of Johnny and his partner. Twice-married, middle-aged and overweight, in fact downright unattractive, Dorothy Grove was nothing to write home about. She'd approached the agency about fears that she was being stalked by a fellow member of her dating club, Simply Single. Now she's dead and Johnny is having a hard time believing it was a crime of passion. But what are the alternatives?

Although the case continues to tax Johnny, the bills have to be paid and a dead client doesn't bring in much money. An industrial espionage investigation for a pharmaceuticals company, DRP, is also on the books and as he attempts to get to the bottom of the matter he makes some rather interesting findings. Interesting, that is, until another victim is shot dead and the action gets a bit too close for comfort...