Probably the most dysfunctional Agatha Christie novel you’ve yet to read comes in the form of Bateman’s startling “Mystery Man”.

Treading a similar path to Sebastian Faulks’ “Endgame” we see a murder-mystery through the eyes of a seriously paranoid main character. And yet Bateman doesn’t lace his novel with sinister undercurrents as much as Faulks, but invites us to share and enjoy the unwilling detective who cracks crime with a can of diet coke, the internet and a wholesale supply of Twix Bars.

When the PI business next door fails to open for business one day, customers begin invading the bookshop “No Alibis” next door asking the owner to solve the crimes instead. Armed with a useless employee, Jeff and a Jessica-Fletcher-in-the-waiting over the road in the form of Alison, the jewellery shop worker, he begins to delve into seemingly innocent crimes that harbour darker secrets.

Bateman treads an unconventional route at times in exploring a genuinely funny and yet complex mystery, throwing in some good red herrings, before ending conventionally with the typical Poirot drawing room denouement. The main character is extremely well drawn and manages to show off his vast array of paranoia and ticks with a welcome slab of humour.

Bateman has created, as Ross Raisin did in “God’s Own Country”, a dark and sometimes disturbing character who remains as intriguing as the mystery he attempts to solve.

Throw in a classic “Psycho” reference throughout and a slightly ambiguous ending and it isn’t puzzling to see why in “Mystery Man” Bateman has shaped a terrific modern whodunit.Check out my blog at www.danclayworld.blogspot.com