The Pig-Tail Murder — Francis Durbridge

The day he got involved with Selby Brooks was a day Mike Hilton wishes hadn't happened. She was sleek and delectable and he, on the rebound from a shaky marriage, succumbed all too easily to her allure.

The trouble was that Selby was a blackmailer, and blackmailers have no friends, only nasty enemies. Her nastiest enemy of all was the notorious 'Mr King'. He had already exercised a royal prerogative by killing a troublesome stripper, and then he struck again - with Mike Hilton as the fall guy.

With an alibi as elusive as the murderer himself, Mike knew he had been suckered, and what had started as an innocent affair looked like landing him on a murder charge.

'Europe's most popular thriller playwright . . . a new Durbridge thriller is an event' Daily Telegraph