The Riverside Villas murder

A mummy is stolen from a small town museum along with some Roman coins and a soaking wet man collapses in fourteen year old Peter Furneaux's living room bleeding from the head.

What was a suspected student prank is followed by murder.

At first it is impossible to see the connection, but the eccentric Colonel Manton does.

With Peter's help the Colonel unravels a mystery that strikes fear into the heart of a genteel suburban neighbourhood and gives Peter rather more excitement than he bargained for at the tennis club social.

This meticulously paced thriller shows Amis at his most subtle and daring.