Cochran Wilder, only son of crimebashing MP Royston Wilder, is missing on a walking holiday in Cornwall. He was last seen on Saturday evening, on the North Cornwall coastal path between Gwithian and Hayle.... Cochran was recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital where he had been detained under a court order following convictions on a number of charges including theft and indecent assault....
Chief Deputy Superintendent Wycliffe recalls all too well the considerable ruckus that Royston Wilder created fifteen years ago when his son disappeared for the first time. But when a dog accidentally unearths Cochran Wilder's body, Wycliffe is stumped over where to begin.
As the pieces of the puzzle slowly fit together to point to six prominent community members and one wild weekend they spent fifteen years ago, Wycliffe is forced to proceed carefully. All this changes when he himself gets assaulted and a suspicious landlord is murdered, plunging Wycliffe into a race to find the killer before the killer finds him.
Wycliffe, one of the best established detectives in crime fiction, is in excellent form in the latest intelligent, atmospheric mystery that will delight all of W.J. Burley's many fans.