Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill.
An Adam Dalgliesh novel, set against the backdrop of the publishing world. Commander Dalgliesh and his team are confronted with a puzzle of extraordinary ingenuity and complexity, and a murderer who is prepared to kill again.
Commander Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is taking a brief respite from publicity on the Norfolk coast, in a converted windmill left him by his aunt. But he cannot easily escape murder - a psychopathic strangler is at large in Norfolk.
When the body of a student of an Anglican theological college is found on the shore of a desolate stretch of coast smothered by a fall of sand, his wealthy father demands that Scotland Yard re-examine the verdict of accidental death. Commander Dalgliesh has visited St Anselm's in his boyhood and, as he is due for a holiday, agrees to pay a visit. He finds himself embroiled in one of the most puzzling cases of his career.
Private detective Cordelia Gray is invited to the sunlit island of Courcy to protect the vainly beautiful actress Clarissa Lisle from veiled threats on her life. Within the rose red walls of a fairy-tale castle, she finds the stage is set for death.