"Inspector Rudd has a most baffling case: a bizarre triangle at the bottom of which lies murder. The triangle involves a shy young man passing through a quiet village on a summer holiday, another solitary soul, Maggie Hearn, a local maiden lady who sees him as the son she never had, and Jess, a lovely girl who has a date with death.

"Detective Inspector Rudd, Chelmsford CID
"His detective instincts are tempered by psychological insight. A most satisfactory master of British police procedure, the Inspector welcomes the challenge of a murder investigation now and again. Just as, when winter cold invades the lonely Essex countryside, even a sober, courageous man appreciates a beer at the local pub."
~~back cover

"A very nicely done mystery. A grand cast of characters and suspects with wonderful in depth characterization, a plot that loops and swirls and deftly hides the murderer until almost the last page. All that in amongst a brilliant picture of a stereotypical small English village in the 1950s. " ( )