Publisher's Synopsis
As Superintendent Harper said to Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, "It's a proper mystery, this case." The remote and idyllic Cornish village of Ottercombe seems the perfect place in which to escape hot summer London. But when Luke Watchman, a high-profile barrister on holiday with friends, dies suddenly at the bar of the Plume of Feathers, the peace of the summer is shattered. The presence of a bottle of deadly prussic acid adds a further disquieting note. But if Watchman's death wasn't an accident, who was responsible? There was quite a crowd in the private taproom that stormy night, and several among them with a motive. Local police are confounded and even Scotland Yard, when called in, find themselves at a loss to explain what happened.
