It was actually pretty massive, with four or five separate rooms leading off from the narrow stone stairway. Maybe another room where they stored the spares, and the bottles of wine and bags of crisps and stuff. I’d expected it to be fairly small, just room for a few barrels and pipelines. Then again, I suppose I’ve downed a few pints in my time. I’d never gone into a pub cellar before-I might be a plumber, but the sort of liquids they have piped in down there aren’t really my area of expertise. I couldn’t have done it without you.Īnd to all the readers who’ve travelled on this journey with Tom and Phil that started with Pressure Head and Relief Valve -thank you!

To all the lovely people who helped me with this book: Susan Sorrentino, SC Wynne, Pender Mackie, Lou Harper, Blaine Arden, Josephine Myles and, as ever, the stalwart members of Verulam Writers’ Circle and my editor, Linda Ingmanson. Publisher's note: This is a lightly edited reprint of a previously published novel. NOTE: This is lightly edited reprint of a previously published novel. What with his uncertainty about Phil’s motives, Tom’s family doing their best to drive a wedge between them, and the uncovering of an ugly incident in Phil’s past, Tom’s not sure who he can trust-and the body he finds in the pub cellar isn’t the only thing that stinks. When Carey threatens an old friend of theirs, Phil and Tom step in to help-but that makes them targets themselves. Young Devil’s Dyke barmaid Marianne has an ex, Grant Carey, who won’t accept that things are over between them, and he’s ruthless in dealing with anyone who gets in his way. Just as he decides to bite the bullet, though, worse problems crawl out of the woodwork. His lover, PI Phil Morrison, wants Tom to dig deeper into his history and try to develop his psychic talent for finding things, but Tom’s not nearly so keen. It’s been six months since plumber Tom Paretski was hit by a shocking revelation about his family, and he’s been avoiding dealing with it ever since.

Muscling through by jl merrow