CLASSIC IN THE BARN

A chance encounter with a 1938 Lagonda V12 involves Jack Colby, Car Detective, in a case of murder.

Enjoying a stroll along a bridleway, Jack notices the classic Lagonda in an old barn. As a car restorer and collector, he is tempted to check out the beautiful old lady, but is discovered by the owner Polly Davis, former TV presenter and widow, who urges her companion Guy Williams to move him along. Although Jack recognizes the car as the one in which Polly’s husband Mike was found dead, he still hopes to persuade her to restore it. Sure enough, Polly thaws enough to allow Jack to bring a picture to her for framing. But when he discovers her shot dead near the Lagonda, Jack, who already does work for the police helping to trace stolen cars, becomes both a suspect and a sleuth. Polly’s daughter Bea, a friend of Jack’s employee Zoe, asks Jack to take the Lagonda for restoration. The plot thickens when his shop is torched with the Lagonda inside. Luckily the car survives to be hidden away in another old barn. Rumors abound that Polly and Mike were involved in some illegal activity. A secret cavity built into the Lagonda makes Jack suspect that they were moving money or stolen artwork to the continent while visiting car shows. Jack, who already has money problems, realizes that he’s investigating a number of dicey people who don’t have his best interests at heart.

The series kickoff by the prolific Myers (Murder on the Old Road, 2011, etc.) is very much in the tradition of Dick Francis—no bad thing.