Detective Peter Diamond, chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad, is taking a short holiday in the country. His former colleague Julie Hargreaves has invited Diamond and his partner, Paloma, to visit the idyllic village of Baskerville (no relation to the Sherlock Holmes story, so heтАЩs told). It turns out JulieтАЩs invitation was not without ulterior motives. The woman who owns the villageтАЩs largest dairy farm has been convicted of manslaughter following a terrible accident in her grain silo. JulieтАЩs ex-investigator instinct tells her there has been a miscarriage of justice and a murderer is on the looseтАФbut JulieтАЩs been keeping secrets of her own, and canтАЩt take her inquiry any further.
Diamond takes the bait; the case is a fascinating one, and heтАЩs quite enjoying his incognito information-gathering, getting to know the villagers as they prepare for their annual Harvest Festival. The deeper into the cow dung Diamond mucks, the more convinced he becomes there was foul play. But maintaining his innocent tourist fa├зade becomes harder as he closes in on his suspects. To protect his alias, he might have to learn how to operate a tractor or drive a herd of wayward cows. He might even be forced to attend a hoedownтАФnot that heтАЩd dance, not even to catch a killer. Or would he? The curmudgeonly detective has plenty to learn about himself as he tries on some new hats: undercover private investigator; village detective; country gentleman.
Over 30 years and 21 other novels, Peter Lovesey has bewitched his enormous fandom with the wry, stubborn, and fiendishly clever Peter Diamond. Now he brings his Anthony, Macavity, and CWA DaggerтАУwinning series to a close with this delightful and bittersweet final installment.