Meet Jim Danzig, enquiry agent of Castletown, a man deeply disillusioned with modern life and technology, and remarkably incompetent at handling the latter, for which he has to rely upon his young assistant, Judith Hare.
Danzig is employed on what seems a routine security job: looking after a successful racehorse for a few days before it goes to stud. He knows nothing about horses, but is assured by the trainer, Dave Ringland, that this doesn’t matter. His head lad will do all that is necessary, but employing an outsider such as Danzig in addition should keep his insurers happy.
This apparently straightforward job blows up in Danzig’s face when he is knocked on the head and the horse stolen. Matters get worse, as couple of murders follow. Meanwhile Danzig is warned off the case and beaten up. Who is responsible for the kidnap and ransom demands, who calls himself by the code name ‘the Tetrarch’? And is he also responsible for the murders?
The first in a series of murder mysteries involving Danzig and Hare, played out against the background of an English country town, and the picturesque if sometimes sinister surroundings of local beauty spot Sandford Heath.