DCI Donald May was not supposed to drink. His father had held true to the Methodist tradition of not consuming alcohol. It was only when the Chief Inspector was at university that he first drank beer – and lots of it. Then he saw the light and foreswore the demon drink. It was too easy to consume too much; and the greater his capacity, the harder it seemed to be to get drunk.

So he stopped drinking. For many years, he did not miss it either. Caz was a good Methodist, so there was never any alcohol in the house. May became known in the force as a tee-totaller, and after periodic ribbing when he was in the junior ranks, his approach had been accepted and, indeed, respected. Refusing drink had been part of who Donald May was, just as he was never going to accept an invitation to join the F...

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