Peter Diamond, British detective extraordinaire, must dig deep into
Bath history to ferret out the secrets of one of its most famous (and
scandalous) icons Richard "Beau" Nash, who might be the victim of a
centuries old murder.
Bath, England: A wrecking crew is demolishing a row of townhouses in
order to build a grocery store when they uncover a skeleton in one of
the attics. The dead man is wearing authentic 1760s garb and on the
floor next to it is a white tricorn hat--the ostentatious signature
accessory of Beau Nash, one of Bath's most famous historical
men-about-town, a fashion icon and incurable rake who, some say, ended
up in a pauper's grave. Or did the Beau actually end up in a townhouse
attic? The Beau Nash Society will be all in a tizzy when the truth is
revealed to them.
Superintendent Peter Diamond, who has been assigned to identify the
remains, starts making discoveries that turn Nash scholarship on its
ear. But one of his constables is stubbornly insisting the corpse can't
be Nash's--the non-believer threatens to spoil Diamond's favorite
theory, especially when he offers some pretty irrefutable evidence. Is
Diamond on a historical goose chase? Should he actually be investigating
a much more modern murder?