If you have read the previous books in this series you will know that Constable "Thorny" Deepbriar was injured during the course of his investigations. Now in hospital with a broken leg, he cannot wait to get back to work following his promotion to Falbrough CID. But this is not possible until he has spent a few weeks recuperating at his wife’s cousin Vera’s seaside boarding house. He is promised that he will be able to work on a case even here, but it turns out to be something the local police are treating as a joke. Who on earth would want to steal garden gnomes? But when he finds a body on the beach and runs into a long lost colleague, he soon realizes that there is something very sinister going on.

I admit to thoroughly enjoying the first two books in this series, Bury in Haste and Deadlier Than The Sword (also reviewed on this site). Any fans of cozy nostalgia will lap them up, but it is in this third volume that the series really sprouts wings and takes off. There is a lot of plot in here, with old wartime sins casting some very long shadows and keeping present day (or 1950s) people on their toes. Plenty happens on every page it seems, and I was sorry to turn the final one. Regular visitors to this site will know that usually I complain about most books being too long, but this one is anything but, being exactly the right length and yielding up plenty of surprises. If the first two were like luxuriating in a long hot bath, this is more akin to taking a hot shower. Great stuff and more please.