Between the wars, Bert Hannam was one of Scotland Yard's most dapper, charismatic investigators. When the most dramatic and sensational murders of the mid-1950s came along, he was in the thick of the action, involved in a variety of controversial trials and enquiries. Hannam also went out as troubleshooter to the shires as well, being involved in the tragic and unsolved murder of Emily Pye, one of a host of horrific "corner shop murders" of the time. Here Stephen Wade provides a biography and case book of Hannam, a fascinating man in a notably interesting era in British criminal investigation.