Dying to Tell by Robert Goddard (Bantam, £16.99)

Glastonbury in the autumn. It's hardly inspiring, but Lance Bradley makes do.

In the pub for a hair of the dog, after a late start, he is confronted by the unexpected. Winifred Alder. Spare and gaunt, looking like a bag lady, and with an air of caution about her, she is about to ruin his day.

Lance's friend Rupert, Mildred's younger brother, has gone missing and for Mildred and her sister it is imperative to find him.

The money he sends is their only income, and Rupert hasn't sent any money for some time. They are desperate for news.

Lance makes a few feeble protests, but in the long run he feels obligated to start searching, after all Rupert once saved his life.

He makes his way to London, and the office complex where Rupert works, to find out that he has vanished and there is a nasty suspicion that he is involved in a major fraud.

No sooner has Lance decided that things are too risky for him to pursue the clues, than he finds he is deeply embroiled and the only way out is to carry on.

It's a corker of a tale.

Annie Dendy