Until Joe's daughter commits suicide. Joe's escapades with Cooper mean he's been neglecting the family a touch over the past, oh, twenty years, but he's heartbroken nevertheless. He wants someone to blame, someone who will take a bit of batting practice. Then Joe's wife is murdered. Joe's the first suspect. He's the husband, though he's spent more time with his favourite hooker than with his wife. The evidence doesn't help his cause much either.

Delving into Joe's past, Guthrie builds characters a bit more complex than the familiar Brit-noir toughs delivering Michael Caine deadpan as they wring blood from their London Fogs. Mind you, Kiss Her Goodbye contains lots of good deadpan. Start with the original cover art produced for the new Hard Case Crime imprint by Chuck Pyle. Busty babe with a bat and brassier gazing over her prone victim: "For What She Went Through, Somebody Had to Pay…" it says, like this kind of guff never went out of style.

Well if it did, thank god it's back, with some gritty, up-to-date thrills along the way. You'll recognize the cover scene when you come to it in the book. That's part of the fun.