Pan Macmillan, London 2019

Peter James has written so many novels, that I lost track. He is a routined writer, always up to date with social and criminal developments. In this thriller his protagonist DS Roy Grace, situated in Brighton, discovers an international romance fraud on the internet: widowed or elderly victims are contacted via dating platforms and then ruthlessly relieved of thousands, often millions of pounds.

The head of the syndicate employs young Africans, who contact the victims and ensure them of their everlasting love, if only they get enough money to file a divorce or care for their ailing relatives.

And here I wonder. How can Africans adopt the upper class English vernacular so perfectly, that nobody has second thoughts. And how can their victims, with only a photograph of their new lover, part with such amounts of money.

If you put these doubts aside, you can follow the plot, starting from just too many different points of view up to the thrilling showdown.