With only three days left to retirement, Detective Inspector Patton has one over-riding desire - to encounter nothing too difficult, nothing too absorbing. But Amelia Trowbridge, who has reported a missing husband, proves to be very absorbing indeed, and her entry into his life presents a problem that is very nearly too difficult to handle. A missing husband is not a police matter. Even when the car he has used is discovered burnt-out, there is still, officially, no crime involved. But when a badly-mutilated body turns up in a remote cottage, the matter takes on a more serious aspect. Is this the missing husband, or is it the body of Clive Kendall, recently-released rapist and murderer? If it is Kendall's body, the obvious suspects are the Clayton brothers, who have sworn to kill him. If it is Amelia's husband, then she is the first suspect. But the clues lead in all directions. A cottageful of fingerprints, a hanged doll with a goatee beard, and a rusted shotgun that could not possibly fire. Richard Patton, emotionally involved with the chief suspect, is hard-pressed to produce a solution without sacrificing dignity, respect, and even his basic integrity. Roger Ormerod has written a riveting novel of police detective work in which professional and emotional aspects of the case become tragically entangled.