[sufue]

Ransom Town is the 11th in the C.I.D. Room series by Roderic Jeffries. It is $0.99 as a US Kindle Countdown for approximately the next 5 3/4 days.

link: https://www.amazon.com/Ransom-Town-C...dp/B07DRH2SGT/

Spoiler:

The letter was addressed merely to the Fortrow Gazette.

The contents of the letter were explicit: ‘The Organization For Social Equality needs money to help it fight for justice for the underprivileged. We’ll set a small fire to prove we’re in business, and then the price is a million pounds. Pay up fast or the fires get bigger, and after each one the bill doubles.’

At first there was doubt that the threat was genuine, but then the fires began and it was clear that Fortrow was being held to ransom. The police worked as hard as they could but made no progress and public alarm grew. Even Detective Inspector Fusil’s superiors began to doubt that he could be left, as he demanded, to go on desperately trying to identify the arsonist who might at any time precipitate an appalling tragedy...