Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler, first introduced in The
Various Haunts of Men, is on a painting holiday in Venice when he is
summoned home by a telephone call. He has family problems to face, and
the stress and grind of running a busy police station. When a little boy
is snatched as he stands with his satchel at the gate of his home,
waiting for his lift to school, an ordinary community realizes that
terror and evil are in their very midst.