Never Pick Up Hitch-hikers! (1976)

Not one of Peters' regular series, a villian in need of a convenient victim picks up a hitchhiker who turns out to be more than a match for him with the help of an attractive young woman. ( )

My favorite of her stand-alone mysteries. I'd really like to meet Willie and Calli again somewhere - maybe seconded to Felse? Most of the standalones have somewhat disposable characters - they're solid for the length of the story but don't seem to have much depth or future. Willie in particular and Calli to some extent transcend this - they both have solid histories with clear effects on them now, and there's even a future laid out by the end of the book. The beginning is an amusing foreshadowing, with Alf's complaints. It's interesting watching the two of them change leads - first one driving and the other going along, then the passive one catches fire and the other trails. And for all the weird adventures they get in to, if you accept the initial premise it all makes sense, despite the Keystone Kops effect at several points. Nice stuff. ( )

Great characters, appealing protagonists, solid plot and (what a concept!) the amateur sleuths actually go to the police when they realize that they've been caught up in a crime and the police take them seriously! You might expect that to ruin the suspense or spoil the story but it doesn't. Lightweight and fun. Definitely a keeper. ( )