On a breezeless summer afternoon Will Hunt, solicitor, receives a call from his friend Celia, who has a problem: a woman named Rose has just told her that she is pregnant with Celia's husband Humphrey's baby. As Will agrees to help Celia separate truth from possible blackmail, his search for Humphrey leads him back to an old haunt of theirs: The Odd Flamingo, a Chelsea nightclub of sketchy repute. But there is more to the affair than meets the eye, and after a body is found with Rose's handbag in Little Venice, a tangled tale of deceit and violence begins to unravel, spiralling around the shady past and suspect clientele of The Odd Flamingo.
NINA BAWDEN (1925–2012) was a British author of beloved children’s books including Carrie’s War (1973) and The Peppermint Pig (1975), as well as literary novels and two lesser-known gems of crime fiction. Two of her books were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and in 2004 she was awarded the Golden PEN award by English PEN for “a Lifetime’s Distinguished Service to Literature.”