Three Monkeys Sixth in the Dido Hoare Mysteries series. First publication: 2005 UK hardback   More? Read sample chapter Reviews Buy on-line(coming soon)

Dido Hoare, antiquarian bookshop owner and single parent, is walking her young son Ben home from nursery one cold December afternoon when he tells her that he has seen a monkey in the street. Dido naturally assumes that this is a figment of his imagination. But before long she realizes that there really is an intruder in the back garden threatening her ginger cat, Mr Spock. And then Dido remembers having seen both a monkey and its owner, one of the homeless men in her neighbourhood. Naturally - being Dido - she sees her clear duty: she must restore the animal to its sad master. (And who would really want to have a monkey rampaging disgustingly around their kitchen?)

However, this is easier said than done, for the nameless old man has disappeared after finding the body of a girl in a pile of rubbish across the road from the shop.

More and more shady characters appear on the doorstep: Annie Kelly, the retired prostitute; the shady thug she calls "Andri" and his friend, "Wee Georgie" McIntyre; and the mysterious Nina - not to mention Dido's old customer, Mrs Acker, who is in some kind of trouble...

Then things get a little complicated. Working it out takes all the craft and courage that Dido can muster, even with the help of her father Barnabas, her friend Chris Kennedy, Ernie Weekes, Mr Stanley, and an assortment of impatient police officers who, as usual, would prefer civilians to mind their own business.