"Catch 13" by Andrew Taylor.

Read by James Fleet.

Last in a series of short stories inspired by the red herring - that most effective weapon in the crime writer's arsenal.

Andrew Taylor won the 2009 Crime Writer's Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing. In "Catch-13", specially written for Radio 4, Taylor displays his pedigree with a brilliant story that twists and turns its way to a stimulating conclusion.

Produced by Kirsteen Cameron.

About the author:

Andrew Taylor's first novel "Caroline Minuscule" won the CWA's John Creasey Award in 1982. He is the only author to have won the Ellis Peters Historical Award twice, in 2001 for "The Office of the Dead" and in 2003 for "The American Boy" (about the English boyhood of Edgar Allan Poe), which also won the US Audie in the literary fiction category. He has been shortlisted for the Gold Dagger, the Edgar, and many other awards in the UK and abroad. His latest novel is "The Anatomy of Ghosts". Show less