The Age of Gold: The battle of the great detectives

In the golden age of detectives, it had to be someone's job to take on the crime scenes without five-star catering

In 1929, celebrities with peculiar moustaches or exotic hats get all the glamorous cases - the thefts at country houses, the multiple murders at first-class holiday resorts, the heists closest to the best golf courses. For a traditional private detective, only the really unpleasant or embarrassing ones are left.

It's not the most rewarding niche for private investigator James 'Rusty' MacDonald, who has never known any other vocation since a childhood spent in high-crime Victorian London reading The Masked Fist comic books. But then his latest shameful case becomes something else entirely.

A crime of incredible daring and ingenuity has just been committed under his nose. A girl's life is on the line. The criminal will stop at nothing. And after the worst possible first day on the case, numerous celebrity detectives begin flocking to the crime scene deep in the south of England. Rusty has a matter of hours to get the better of them, solve the case and strike a blow for ordinary private detectives everywhere.

It's just that, when it comes to striking blows, he's not the only one on the prowl in the heart of the English countryside. The crime he's investigating may not yet be over; and Rusty cannot guarantee he won't be one of its victims...

Perfect for fans of classic detective fiction by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as modern revivals by Anthony Horowitz and Sophie Hannah and mystery novels by writers like M.C. Beaton, M.R.C. Kasasian, L.C. Tyler and Ian Sansom, The Age of Gold is a new must-read detective story that will have you on the edge of your seat into the small hours.