num_pages: 269
description: When Thana returns to the sleepy English village of Tinley, no one seems to recognise her…But her see-through blouse and good looks soon have the whole village talking, and it comes to light that she has started working at the local Blue Bazaar nightclub, as part of the cabaret.The club is owned by Jennifer Cordwright, her son David, and Lester Read – three long term residents of Tinley.Thana and David used to know each other, but when they met he had no idea.After all, she had changed a lot…When Thana finds a diary hidden in the dressing table in her room in the nightclub, she realises she has stumbled upon the answer to an unsolved murder in the village of seventeen years earlier.It was Superintendent Booth who was in charge when that murder was committed, and the fact it went unsolved still haunts him.But then he has a call from Thana, who claims she now knows who committed that crime all those years ago.The only problem is, Thana isn’t such a saint herself, and she intends to blackmail the perpetrator, and have a bit of fun of her own.But playing games with a murderer is a risky business, and when Thana is found brutally killed in her room at the club, it becomes apparent her risk didn’t pay off…The new superintendent in the area is Detective Ben Spence, and it is up to him to try and get to the bottom of this spiralling mystery…In Spence’s mind, one thing is for sure – whoever was responsible for the murder in Tinley seventeen years earlier, is responsible now.Spence at the Blue Bazaar is a riveting crime thriller filled with suspicion and deceit.‘A well-crafted, gripping thriller’ – Thomas Waugh‘Entertainment in the traditional style’ – Kirkus Reviews‘old-time-whodunit'- Kirkus ReviewsMichael Allen is an award-winning writer who has published about twenty full-length novels, mostly crime fiction and thrillers. These novels have appeared in a variety of hardback and paperback formats in the UK, USA, France, and Denmark. The best known of his books are perhaps the three whodunits featuring Det. Chief Supt. Ben Spence. These are listed in two leading reference books on crime A Reader’s Guide to the Classic British Mystery, by Susan Oleksiw; and Sleuths, Sidekicks and Stooges by Joseph Green and Jim Finch. Reviewers have described Michael Allen as ‘a true blue murder master’ (Michael Demarest in Time) and ‘in the top ten of crime writers’ (Ted Willis in The Bookseller).Michael has also worked in all the other major media. His comedy-thriller Spykiller won the Bouchercon 1990 competition for a stage play with a theme based on crime; the judges included Sir Donald Sinden and Hugh Whitemore. Michael’s television adaptation of Conan Doyle’s The Speckled Band was filmed in Warsaw, in 1979, by American producer/director Sheldon Reynolds; and Michael’s radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC and by other organisations in six countries.
language: English
title: Spence at the Blue Bazaar
titlecomplete: Spence at the Blue Bazaar (Detective Chief Superintendent Ben Spence #2)
genres: Mystery, Fiction
ratings_count: 87
series: Detective Chief Superintendent Ben Spence
publisher: A Dell Book [1981]