To be tried and convicted of three rape-murders has been an unnerving experience for Adrian Collis. Due to a legal technicality he finds himself released and in need of protection. But David Mallin and George Coe, confidential enquiry agents, realise that the basic difficulty is in deciding who is most in need of protection, Collis himself or his next potential victim.

Murder takes the decision out of their hands and the identity of the killer seems at first obvious if it were not for the gun. It is the shotgun's movements, and its manner of use, which eventually leads Dave to a conclusion that comes very close to splitting their partnership.

But the climax proves that both George and Dave can be seriously wrong, and the penalty is a fee in a most unusual form.


First published in 1979, *The bright face of danger* reveals the qualities which have established Roger Ormerod as a superb plotter of traditional detective novels with a wide and faithful readership. 'He ranks among the few English crime writers who can still construct a traditional detective novel in which the ending does not come as a wet squib... I am glad to announce that the detective novel is still alive and well in Mr Ormerod's skilful hands.' - Harriet Waugh, *The Spectator*, of *Still life with pistol*