Death and decapitation seem to go hand in hand in the Devon village of
Aller. When the first victim's head is sent floating down the river, the
village's rural calm is shattered. Soon the corpses are multiplying and
the entire community is involved in the murder hunt. While the rector,
the major, the police and a journalist, desperate for the scoop of the
century, chase false trails, it is left to Gervase Fen, Oxford don and
amateur criminologist, to uncover the sordid truth.