Never Pick Up Hitch-Hikers! by Ellis Peters
When Alf Jarrett spots the hitch-hiker, he thinks his prayers have been answered. William Banks is a personable young man of twenty, leaving home for the first time and perfect for what Alf has in mind. William eagerly accepts Alf s offer of a free night s lodging and the chance to repay him for the lift, but he doesn t realise that in following Alf s instructions he is made the intended victim in a sinister plot of arson and murder. Only William s good fortune and the timely intervention of a guardian angel in the form of a charming girl called Calli saves him from becoming a corpse. Suddenly, William and Calli find themselves thrown into a case involving mistaken identity, bank robbery and murder, and they aren t the only ones on the trail...