The Riddle [2007, UK, thriller, DVD9]

This movie is smart contemporary London mystery thriller with a Dickensian twist. When the London landlady of a Thames-side pub is murdered following her discovery of an unpublished Charles Dickens manuscript in her pub cellar, an unusual trio team up to investigate. Mike is an ambitious tabloid sports reporter determined to make a name for himself as an investigative journalist. He is helped by Kate, a police press officer and by an eccentric beach-combing tramp who stalks the Thames foreshore at low tide. Together, they track down the manuscript and as they study it we are transported back into the world of Charles Dickens. Mike becomes obsessed with solving not just the modern murder, but also a century-old killing described in the pages of the long-lost book. Only when they unlock the riddle of the manuscript are they able to solve the present-day crime, facing opposition along the way from a greedy detective, a self-important publisher, and a ruthless construction company boss.