This is the second novel featuring Martin Scarsden, an Australian journalist. The story carries on quite neatly from the first and makes quite a good case for how Martin gets involved in solving crimes. The book itself was a slow start, possibly because of the need to set an entirely new scene (I do love the look of the frontispiece maps!) and get Martin re-established in his childhood home. After that it gets much better, the plotting is very clever and the ending very satisfying. The whole series is worth a re-read one day.