At the time of the Second World War, Scottish-born poet, scholar, art critic and fantasy novelist Ruthven Campbell Todd (1914-1978) wrote a series of detective fiction for other literary projects and was quickly - but unjustly - forgotten as a mystery novelist. Today, his detective novels are almost impossible to find.

When a rare copy of Bodies in a Bookshop does turn up, it is a treat for all mystery lovers and those who love to rummage through musty old bookstores in search of the unexpected. Botanist Max Boyle visits "a curious little shop in a side-street off the Tottenham Court Road" in London and is delighted with the bibliophilic treasures he finds. He also stumbles across something less pleasant: in a back room, an unlit gas ring emits its noxious fumes, and two corpses lie sprawled on the floor.