First published in 1972, this is a Chief Inspector Littlejohn mystery full of secrecy, duplicity and twisted loyalties.

The Todds, governed by the widowed matriarch, Mrs Todd, are well-known in Fordinghurst.
When Heck, the philandering youngest son, is found murdered on his boat, they do their best to hush up the scandal.

With the local constabulary depleted through illness and strained by an epidemic of illegal immigration, Chief Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard and his new recruit, Hopkinson, are called in to investigate. Faced with a tangle of family jealousy, marital betrayal and racial prejudice, Littlejohn persists, leading to a slew of confessions.

George Bellairs is a pen name of Harold Blundell (1902-1985), a crime writer born in Lancashire. Blundell was a prolific writer who published over 50 crime and mystery novels in his life, most of them featuring the detective Inspector Littlejohn. Blundell also wrote regularly for the Manchester Guardian.