Searching for truffles in a wood a man & his dog unearth something less savoury
- a human h&. The body as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later has lain buried for ten years or so wrapped in a violet cotton sheet. The post mortem cannot reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs. Although it covers a relatively short period of time the police computer stores a long list of missing persons. Men women & children disappear at an alarming rate something like 500 every day nationwide. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. & then only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site in the cellar of a disused cottage another body is found. The detection skills of Wexford Burden & the other investigating officers of the Kingsmarkham Police Force are tested to the utmost to discover whether the murders are connected & to track down whoever is responsible.