An author was determined to get justice after receiving a string of one-star reviews on Amazon so turned to the tools of his trade to track down the person at the end of the keyboard.
Professor David Wilson, 66, is the author of 15 books, including The Longest Injustice, Hunting Evil, Pain and Retribution, and A History of British Serial Killing, all of which have been well-received online.
But one Amazon reviewer was seemingly displeased with each novel and would leave a one-star rating alongside a scathing comment targeting David personally.
But when they went after his new book, Murder at Home, the author realised he'd had enough.
David thought the reviewer, who went simply by the name 'Junius', seemed a bit suspicious and doubted the authenticity of the account.
So like protagonists of his crime and detective books, he decided to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Using the skills he'd learned as a crime expert, David - who is professor emeritus in criminology at Birmingham City University - did his research and adopted a methodical approach to track down Junius - who turned out to be a rival author masquerading as a customer.
What do you think about David's quest for justice? Let us know in the comments...
David, a father of two from Buckinghamshire, said: "This wasn't the first time Junius had given me a negative review, he'd become a kind of online nemesis.
"Every time I published a new book it would be the same story, I would get a one-star review and he would be incredibly critical of what I had written - not just in terms of what he claimed were factual errors, but he also made ad hominem attacks - he attacked me as a person.
"It felt incredibly personal - it wasn't just that he was saying he disagreed with what I was arguing, he was really saying things that were aimed directly at my credibility, my experience, my background and what it was that I did.
"Often in the past, his reviews appeared a week or two weeks after the book had been published, it just so happened that his review appeared very quickly after the book came out.
"There had only been two reviews prior to his appearing so it really stood out. So I thought, 'oh no, here we go again'.
"I felt powerless, I thought there would be nothing I could do and then I just thought, 'this is ridiculous, I'm a criminologist, I should be able to track this person down'.
"I felt he had skin in the game, I felt he wasn't just a disgruntled reader, it felt like there was more going on."
David started by doing research - checking out Junius's profile on Amazon and building a profile of the reviewer.
He continued: "I looked through his Amazon profile as Julius. He didn't just review my books, he reviewed a number of other books and a number of other products - for example, her reviewed the DVD series of Minder.
"He was a prolific reviewer in other words. What really stood out was how eclectic his tastes were. He reviewed a book about the Jacobite rebellion, a book about serial murder, about Dick Turpin, books about local history.
"The other thing that occasionally he would do is he would leave an address as it were - he would sometimes sign his reviews, 'London, Middlesex'.
"So there was an eclectic group of reviews and a sort of address, so the first thing I tried to do was look to see if he had a social media profile - was there a Junius on Twitter or Instagram? But I didn't find any."
Next, David turned to analytics database LexisNexis and tried the more niche phrases, 'Jacobite rebellion' and 'Dick Turpin', and on a hunch added 'author' too.
Soon the database came back with five hits, but only one was based in London.
David continued: "One name, in particular, was based in London, and therefore I focussed on that particular person.
"I took his name and simply Googled it, and up came Dr Jonathan Oates.
"He had his own Amazon page, he wrote about serial murder, he was in local newspapers talking about his books, and I realised the chances were that he would be Junius.
"In one of his articles he gave a place where he was employed, it said he was the archivist at Ealing Borough Libraries, so I tracked down a number and phoned.
"I got through to the reception and I asked to speak to Dr Jonathan Oates, I was asked who was calling, so said Professor David Wilson - I wanted to give my name because if this was Junius, I wasn't trying to deceive him or trick him.
"The receptionist went off to track him down and I heard footsteps coming back to the receiver and a man picked up the phone and said hello."
For a moment, David feared that he had got the wrong man, presuming that Junius wouldn't so confidently approach confrontation, but he forged ahead anyway.
He continued: "I said, 'is that Dr Jonathan Oates?' He said yes, so I asked if he is the Dr Oates who wrote about Dick Turpin and he said yes, and I said, 'are you also the Dr Jonathan Oates who uses the pseudonym Junius who gives me one-star reviews on Amazon?'
"There was a silence on the other end of the phone and I thought for a second I had got the wrong man, then he suddenly went, 'I'm sorry, I'm so very very sorry, I apologise', and then the phone went dead.
"I realised I got my man, like a good Canadian Mountie."
David gave Dr Oates time to recover from the shock of being caught, then called him back to discuss the ethics of leaving anonymous reviews on a rival author's work.
Then Dr Oates agreed to change his one-star reviews, and upped his rating of Murder at Home - to three stars.
David continued: "Then it struck me, I wonder if Junius had reviewed the books of Dr Jonathan Oates? And of course, he had - and he gave them five stars."
Dr Jonathan Oates has been contacted for comment.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
