Norm is Oxford's new bright crime fighter. But Morse he ain't. He drives his girlfriend's Ka. He likes Springsteen. Sometimes he drinks lager ...
Norman Philip Ducker is far from the norm. And far from the late lamented Chief Inspector Morse. Unlike Oxford's celebrated detective, Norm uses the city's buses or borrows his girlfriend's little Ford. He likes lager as well as real ale. He likes Buddy Holly and REM and Bruce Springsteen. Oh … and he’s not a policeman. He does like crosswords, however. And reading. Cosmology and science and religion fascinate him. So do football and rugby. But he still can’t get his head round Doris Lessing. Norm is a civilian employed by the police as a coordinator for Crimestoppers, the charity that invites anonymous tip-offs. He isn’t overkeen, however, on police procedure and political correctness. He relies on an acute sense of hearing, a good memory, and a strange logic to weave a way through laborious, official channels; through piles of electronic files and folders, sheaves of paperwork, and tangles of red tape. This is the story of how he battles the Brass to play a key part in unravelling a complicated web of murder. It also happens to be a moving love story.