Faking It Seventh in the Dido Hoare Mysteries series. First publication: 2006 UK hardback   More? Read sample chapter Reviews Buy on-line(coming soon)

Every serious second-hand or antiquarian book seller knows some book runners. These are the people who search through the barrows in the street markets and the shelves of the charity shops for unrecognised treasures, who attend car boot sales, charity sales and house clearances looking for collectibles, or who buy second-rank items from the shelves of middle-ranking shops because they know the right market for selling them on.

One of the best-known book runners in London in the ‘80s and early ‘90s was Gabriel Steen, an old Canadian hippy-type who dropped out of sight when he moved to Amsterdam nearly ten years ago. But when Dido Hoare goes down to open her shop one Saturday morning, she discovers that Steen is back, and at work again. With their business almost completed, Steen takes a call on his mobile phone and immediately offers Dido a part share in what appears to be a little Mediaeval manuscript
written in an unknown language and full of strange and magical drawings. It is an offer she just can’t turn down. But when Steen leaves the shop, only to meet a violent death, Dido wishes that she had!

What is this mysterious object which Dido now controls? Is it the reason for the murder? Why are the police of three different British forces, not to mention the Netherlands, so interested in Steen’s little book? Little by little, the pieces of a dirty conspiracy stretching back over many years fall into place. Untangling the mess will require the help of Dido’s father, Barnabas, and her friends -- as well as her own stubbornness and a lot of luck.