The Blitz Detective

First published as Direct Hit



Saturday 7th September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has abruptly ended - but crime has not.



That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the scene, he recognises the victim: local Justice of the Peace, Charles Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates all evidence. War or no war, murder is still murder, and it's Jago's job to find the truth.



Mike Hollow was born in West Ham and grew up in Romford, Essex. He studied Russian and French at the University of Cambridge and then worked for the BBC. In 2002 he went freelance as a copywriter, journalist and editor. Mike also works as a poet and translator.