Running Before The Midnight Bell

Hastings and St Leonards on Sea on the south coast of England are the settings for this urban thriller.
Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Nemo has worked in the police force all his life. The rigid discipline has suited his personality well and the strict protocol hasn't allowed for outside interference: until a series of murders, targeted at a particularly vulnerable group of the local community, begins to impact on his solitary existence.
Elderly transvestites are being murdered and the killer leaves behind a token that appears incongruous, but which Nemo knows bears some personal significance that he ought to be able to recognise, but can't.
A young transvestite artist, Martin Angelica, goes missing. One of his paintings includes an item found at one of the murder scenes. An item that must have been painted before the murder took place.
Nemo's niece, a friend of the artist and at art school with him, comes to stay. Certain that she has nothing to do with the murders and with her full co-operation, she helps him to track down Martin Angelica.
There is the fear of secrets being revealed, of old habits being exposed to the glare of publicity, of lies and treachery.
It is difficult for any man to keep control of fast moving events. For a solitary man like Nemo, as the thick walls behind which he hides begin to crumble, there is rising panic and by the end, terrible danger.