From the prize-winning author of Richard and Judy Book Club novel, The American Boy, this is the second in the acclaimed Lydmouth crime series, set on the Welsh/English border in the confusing years after the Second World War.

'Andrew Taylor is a master story-teller' Daily Telegraph

From the No.1 bestselling author of The Ashes of London and The Fire Court, this is the second instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series

When a spinster of the parish is found bludgeoned to death in St John's, and the church's most valuable possession, the Lydmouth chalice, is missing, the finger of suspicion points at the new vicar, who is already beset with problems.

The glare of the police investigation reveals shabby secrets and private griefs. Jill Francis, struggling to find her feet in her new life, stumbles into the case at the beginning. But even a journalist cannot always watch from the sidelines. Soon she is inextricably involved in the Suttons' affairs. Despite the electric antagonism between her and Inspector Richard Thornhill, she has instincts that she can't ignore . . .

'An excellent writer. He plots with care and intelligence and the solution to the mystery is satisfyingly chilling' The Times

'The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today' Val McDermid

'There is no denying Taylor's talent, his prose exudes a quality uncommon among his contemporaries' Time Out

"Taylor's Lydmouth series is turning the classical detective story into a complex picture of our own past" - Independent

"Andrew Taylor is one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting novelist writing on crime in England today" - Spectator

"The people depicted here are real and believable and the drabness and genteel facade of Fifties England is skilfully brought to life. Taylor is, as always, adept at showing the reality beneath the surface" - Sunday Telegraph

"How skilfully he recreates the atmosphere of the time through innuendo, attitude and detail . . .Taylor is the master of small lives writ large and he has carved a classic detective story" - Frances Fyfield

"The most under-rated crime writer in Britain today" - Val McDermid