Chief Superintendent Wycliffe is enjoying his vacation in a remote corner of Cornwall when village life is disturbed by the sudden death of a young woman. When it is discovered that she was murdered by poison, Wycliffe’s holiday is interrupted. One of the most affluent members of the community is a world-renowned writer who has himself been threatened, and his connection to the girl and his own past must be unraveled to find the killer….This is the twelfth novel in Burley’s long-running Wycliffe series, and like the ones before it, some of the attitudes expressed are quite of its time: a certain degree of off-handed sexism, for example. But if the reader can get past such annoyances, the story is a good one and Wycliffe remains an engaging and thoughtful lead character. It’s probably not necessary to read these novels in sequence, although that’s generally a helpful thing to do with any series; at any rate, none of the events in this book relate to any earlier novels, so in that sense, it works as a stand-alone. Mildly recommended. ( )