Psycho by the Sea

Truss’s madcap follow-up to Murder by Milk Bottle is set in 1957 Brighton, on the coast of England, where gang members outnumber the cops. Brighton police inspector Steine has become a celebrated hero for nabbing the gang leader Terry Chambers, and gets a new secretary, Roberta Lennon, to assist him; she upsets the office balance by displacing Palmeira Groynes, the police station’s charwoman-slash-local gangster. Meanwhile, at the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, a new physician facilitates the release of a violent killer who targets and beheads police officers; and Mrs. Groynes is planning a Christmas-week heist at Gosling’s Department Store, where Chambers associate Adelaide Vine has recently started a job. Constable Twitten’s disastrous driving and Mrs. Groynes’s stealthy maneuvers will bring all the action at Gosling’s to a murderous conclusion.