Bucket Nut

Eva Wylie is a Londoner who works as a professional wrestler and a junkyard security guard, and she is far from a conventional heroine. Liza Cody, author of the Anna Lee series, tells her story with the same confidence and style, but this book is more an adventure than a mystery. Many of the crimes are committed by Eva herself, who is not above swiping the odd wallet or car.

Now and then Eva runs errands for Mr. Cheng and does not ask about his official business. While collecting a protection payment from a nightclub, she is offered some crowd-control work for the evening. When a police raid cuts short the band's set, she carries a thoroughly stoned backup singer off to the safety of her trailer home. Eva calls the singer Goldie, who charms her protector and even wins over the junkyard dogs.

Goldie brings problems with her, and Eva already has plenty of her own, especially when Mr. Cheng sends her on another, very different errand. Meanwhile an irritating private investigator named Anna Lee keeps turning up, looking for someone called Eleanor Crombie. The story hints that Anna and Eva may end up working together, provided Eva stays out of hospital and out of jail.