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Meticulously organised and judiciously scheduled to coincide with the dreaded Chemistry test, the school trip to the Museum of the Moving Image had been Peter Maxwell's idea.
But Maxwell himself, grievously afflicted with a vicious dose of flu, was forced to stay behind. And so it was that fifty chattering, squealing, excited pupils set off with only Maxwell's ineffectual Deputy and the inexperienced NQT Alice Goode to keep control. Not everyone was destined to return from the happy outing.
For in the darkened cinema complex of MOMI two members of the party disappear without trace.
As the instigator of the doomed trip, Maxwell feels personally responsible for the fate of the missing pair and sets out to discover what happened to Alice Goode and sixth form pupil Ronnie Parsons.
His search drags him into a world far removed from the essay crises and cosy staff room banter of Leighford High. Sucked into the sleazy and sinister world of Soho and the porn industry, Maxwell finds himself ensnared in a mesh of blackmail, vice - and murder.
In Maxwell's Movie, M. J. Trow's memorably unlikely sleuth, the irascible Head of Sixth, is faced with his most baffling and intriguing mystery yet.
book reviews
- Mail on Sunday
An impressive mix of humour, sadness and suspense, this is gripping to the very end. - Margaret Baker, The Baldwin Ledger (USA)
‘A lot of witty dialogue especially wonderful for film buffs accompanies an all-too-plausible plot with much adventure and more physical action than usual for the genre of mysteries.' - Yorkshire Post
‘Trow is a consummate plotter, not afraid to tread new ground, and his Maxwell stories exude compassion and wit in equal measure.’ - Northern Echo
‘An engaging crime tale, featuring schoolmaster-detective ‘Mad Max’ Maxwell, who is in top form as he helps the police to investigate the disappearance of a fellow teacher. A character to savour.'
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