"Hazell plays Solomon" by P. B. Yuill

The south London wisecracking ex copper alcoholic no longer married private investigator James Hazell is working for a mother who believes that her baby was mixed up with another at maternity hospital.

A fairly standard PI story but well-written with a perfectly timed plot and, just for a moment, a true moral conundrum at the heart of it that has the potential for a stunning story.

This book comes before Hazell and the Three-Card Trick.

• "On the seventh floor I took a couple of deep breaths to remind my lungs who was supposed to be the guvnor." (p 6)
• "Today's lie is tomorrow's trouble" (p 8)
• "If life was all down to theory I'd be king." (p 8)
• "That year most kids were pinning up boy canaries with Lolita faces" (p 12)
• "he couldn't even mention God without taking a quick look over his shoulder." (p 15)
• "From the way she dealt with the porter I could see that the words please and thanks had been lost somewhere along the line." (p 36)
• "At that speed he should have been done for illegal parking." (p 41)
• "Her lips tightened as if she thought that an outright smile would be bad form." (p 81)

April 2017, 171 pages

Also in the series: Hazell and the Menacing Jester