Scam by Parnell Hall

In ten words or less: Hastings gains a client and is accused of three murders.

Review: Private eye jobs are few and far between for detective Stanley Hastings. He's tried acting and screenwriting with no great success, and most of his jobs are for an attorney, documenting personal injury cases.
When he does get a real client walking through the door, Hastings is eager to get to the bottom of the case. The client, Cranston Pritchert, is a partner is an investment firm that is in the middle of a struggle for board chairman. Pritchert thinks that someone is setting him up to take a fall, to get him out of the way of an ambitious partner. But which partner?
Before he is done investigating, Hastings finds himself accused of three murders and no closer to discovering who set up his client.
Why bother? A traditional soft-boiled private eye novel--fans of Simon Brett, Robert Barnard, and Stuart Kaminsky's Toby Peters series should give Hall's series a try.