After the first shock of finding the body of his friend, Peter Blackwell, art specialist Tim Simpson starts asking why he was killed. Why had he asked Tim to meet him, and why was he edgy rather than jubilant over a recent find?

Tim had asked him to look for a sideboard by the Victorian designer E.W. Godwin, sometime lover of actress Ellen Terry. When Tim follows Peter’s trail into Sussex there is no evidence that he had unearthed such a piece. Instead there is more violence, an old rugger friend of Tim’s, now a police inspector - and Marianne.

Marianne is a partner in Applemore Antiques, San Francisco. Very soon she is Tim Simpson’s partner in bed. And in his investigations. And that is when things get really exciting.

John Malcolm ‘brings to the world of art dealing a mixture of expertise and affection that recalls Dick Francis,’ says the Mail on Sunday. Tim Simpson’s second adventure strengthens the parallel.