How could a vacation go so wrong Chief Inspector Jim Hatchard and his wife Betty arrive in the UK from South Australia to enjoy a longplanned holiday in Cornwall the county of Bettys ancestors Early in their time in England they make an innocent enquiry for directions to their hotel near St Agnes That enquiry leads them into experiences of Cornwall they could never have anticipated in their worst nightmares A murder mystery wraps itself around them changing their plansIn unusual circumstances Jim becomes involved deeply in the urgent task of discovering the identity of a murderer who is bent on more killing First one suspect then another and another come into the picture but the mystery appears to have no clues for cracking the case Then an unusual clue which carries with it a mistake by the murderer provides the first real opportunity to make an arrest By this time Jim and Betty find themselves drawn into the dark world of an extreme religious group and the darker side of sex The denouemont involves the reader in a thrilling closing in on the murderer in which the topography of Cornwalls remotest areas is the enemyMeet DCI Jim Hatchard who maps and follows his own path He is a crime detection officer who is one of a kind and happy to be so He is an educated policeman with a deep interest in the psychology of criminals He is dogmatic yet sensitive to the effects of loss of freedom for those who are consigned to imprisonment He has his own inner demons that have the potential to destroy him as the murder enquiry closes around him Meet also DI Arthur Brosnan a hardworking methodical detective and DS Foxy Fox who has an eye for the girls both of the Devon and Cornwall ConstabularyWhile a broad ray of light runs through the novel it nevertheless enters the dangerous worlds of fanaticism a perverted sense of justice and the destructive outcomes of lawlessnessBe drawn in as the story accelerates to a gripping conclusion