The Inspector finds himself in a small provincial town; his mandate is to investigate a death. 15 years earlier.

"Mr. Keating has a long-established winner in his sympathetic and lively hero, and this is one of his most enjoyable cases." -- The Times

H. R. F. Keating was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He went to Merchant Taylors, leaving early to work in the engineering department of the BBC. After a period of service in the army, which he describes as 'totally undistinguished', he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he became a scholar in modern languages. He was also the crime books reviewer for "The Times" for fifteen years. His first novel about Inspector Ghote, The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award.