John Leighton, owner of a fine estate in the Cotswolds, lives well when we meet him he is 'warmly encased in leather-lined Le Chameau boots, neat Habicht binoculars slung loose around his neck, and he carries a boxlock Holland and Holland Cavalier shotgun in one hand.' Weekend shooting parties are nothing new to him but for Leighton this will be the first (and last) to be attended by some friends, some business contacts, his wife's lover, and an undercover London hit-man.