Dead Money – the first Inspector Amos story
When Ray Jones is murdered in his bed it looks like a classic closed room case straight out of Agatha Christie. Jones lives in a refurbished block of flats with a guard on duty to keep out unwelcome visitors, so the list of suspects is limited to the occupants of the flats. Furthermore, there is an obvious suspect in Scott Warren, who fears that Jones will ruin him and who has a means of access to Jones’s flat. Events rapidly deteriorate for investigating officer Detective Inspector Paul Amos, however. He soon discovers that anyone in the neighbourhood could have sneaked in – and he gradually realises that the apparently popular and devout Jones had made many enemies through his small town business deals.
Suspicion now falls on the shifty and impecunious Jim Berry, who was ruined by Jones, but why has he waited years for revenge while helping Jones with his wheeling and dealing in the meantime? Berry seems to have more to lose than to gain by the demise of his only benefactor.
Then Amos realises that Jones may have been killed in error and that the intended victim could have been Joanna Stevens, who lived one floor above Jones. Providing a round-the-clock guard for a reluctant and sceptical Stevens drains resources and incurs the displeasure of the Chief Constable.
Slowly it dawns on Amos who the murderer is and who was the intended target. In a calculated gamble, he withdraws Stevens’s guard and, while the Chief Constable is in talks with his counterparts in neighbouring counties, he tempts the murderer into a trap that almost backfires.