Detectives in Shute novel following characters in centre of Oslo (7)

I believe the answer is:

sleuths

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'detectives' is the definition.
(sleuth is a kind of detective)

'shute novel following characters in centre of oslo' is the wordplay.
'novel' is an anagram indicator.
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'characters in centre of oslo' becomes 'sl' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'shute' anagrammed gives 'euths'.
'euths' after 'sl' is 'SLEUTHS'.

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sleuths that I've seen before include "Private eyes" , "Detectives" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.

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