Destroy Unopened

''Alex, if you had a son who told you that he liked his new flat because it was built on the site of 10 Rillington Place, what would you think?''

''Hillary, I wish you''d get to the point,'' I said as gently as I could manage.

She was ruffled but not distracted. ''If a son of yours said that, would you think he was the Notting Hill killer . . . ?''

Alex Tanner, part-time private eye, has given little...