Commissioner George Gideon is a busy man, especially when three of his colleagues require a touch of justice. Chief Detective Superintendent Tom Riddel's seemingly watertight case against Sidney Stannet--the head of a vice gang and protection racket--has fallen apart. With his considerable funds, Stannet has hired a crooked barrister and bribed as many witnesses as he can, with the result that Riddell himself is up for trial. Meanwhile, honest man Matt Honiwell of the CID is faced with a corpse on his hands when the suspected driver of a getaway car in the bank raid dies during questioning. Somebody knows. Somebody blackmails. And then there is Chief Detective Superintendent John Farrant. He is a hard, cynical and highly ambitious man with something to prove, not least that Timothy Dane is guilty. A once brilliant research chemist now suspected of arson, the drop-out alcoholic Dane is set free by magistrates who sense foul play...and Farrant wants to get him back behind bars by hook or, in all likelihood, by crook... William Vivienne Butler follows in the footsteps of John Creasey and weaves a story as masterfully as the man himself. Invited to take over writing the Gideon Series on Creasey's death, Butler hoped to keep the memory of the Master crime fiction writer alive. John Creasey's near 600 titles have sold more than 80 million copies in over 25 languages under both his own name and multiple other pseudonyms. His style varied with each identity and led to him being regarded as a literary phenomena. Amongst the many series written were Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Toff, The Baron, Dr. Palfrey and Inspector West, as JJ Marric, Michael Halliday, Patrick Dawlish and others. During his lifetime Creasey enjoyed an ever increasing reputation both in the UK and overseas, especially the USA. This was further enhanced by constant revision of his works in order to assure the best possible be presented to his readers and also by many awards, not least of which was being honoured twice by the Mystery Writer's of America, latterly as Grand Master.