In Death a la Carte, bad-boy Police Inspector Jack Mowgley has jumped before being pushed and taken early retirement. With no prospects in England, he has moved across the Channel to set up in Cherbourg as a private investigator. His intentions are to live off the colourful band of British expats in the area while funding the restoration of his mostly-ruined manor house in the Normandy countryside. He expects to encounter nothing more demanding than cases of marital infidelity and financial irregularities, but soon finds himself involved in people trafficking, drug smuggling and a series of murders most foul. This must be read to the shocking end: Extracts: It occurred to Mowgley that the body on the bench was more like a shop window mannequin being prepared for display than a mutilated corpse. The comparison came to mind because there were no hands protruding from the cuffs of the sleeves, or head from the collar of the snow-white shirt… Coco Lecoq looked like an uncomfortable cross between an Old Testament prophet and the mad professor in Back to the Future. He had a shock of red hair, a moustache to rival Asterix the Gaul, and possibly the worst set of teeth Mowgley had seen in Normandy, which was saying something:

An all-round arts enthusiast, Coco also staged regular open concerts in the square beside the pub. Last year he had arranged an exchange deal which involved the St-Sauveur Ladies Glee Club travelling to perform in a punk venue in East Dulwich, while the club had sent as its representatives a band called ‘We Hate Fucking Foreigners’:

What readers say about Mowgley:
‘I was totally absorbed as the tale unfolded. Not so much by the plot, but by waiting for the next assault on political correctness.’ ‘Our dysfunctional detective hero is no Morse or Rebus, and thank goodness for that. Mowgley is refreshingly sordid, and I was secretly pleased to find he had absolutely no redeeming characteristics’:

NB. All the events and situations relating to drug and people smuggling in the book are based on fact. The latest reports are that these activities are increasing most rapidly in northern France: