'For the most part, the dead man received public sympathy. A decent, hardworking chap, with not an enemy anywhere. People were surprised that anybody should want to kill Jim.' But Jim has been drowned in the Dumb River, near Ely, miles from his Yorkshire home. His body has been discovered before the killer intended - disturbed by a torrential flood. It's up to Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to trace the mystery of the murder to its source, leaving waves of scandal and sensation in his wake.
Following a mysterious explosion, the offices of Excelsior Joinery Company are no more; the three directors are killed and the peace of a quiet town in Surrey lies in ruins. When the supposed cause of an ignited gas leak is dismissed and the presence of dynamite revealed, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is summoned to the scene. But beneath the sleepy veneer of Evingden lies a hotbed of deep-seated grievances. Confounding Littlejohn's investigation is an impressive cast of suspicious persons, each concealing their own axe to grind.
Nathaniel Wall, the local quack doctor, is found hanging in his consulting room in the Norfolk village of Stalden but this was not a suicide. Against the backdrop of a close-knit country village, an intriguing story of ambition, blackmail, fraud, false alibis and botanical trickery unravels.
