Inspector Frost and Sergeant Billy Smith are dispatched to the tiny Cornish village of Crevenna, where the body of a holiday-maker has been discovered stabbed on the beach. Was this a random attempt at armed robbery? Or was there a more personal motive? Was the victim a stranger, or was there a connection with some native of Crevenna? To discover the truth, Frost and Smith must get under the skin of village life. No-one is above suspicion - from the bright young things up at the manor to the shopkeepers and publicans down in the cove, from the religious ministers who hold sway over the community to the bohemian artists who have come there for the summer. As Frost conducts his investigation in the methodical manner that has made him a stalwart of the Yard, long-buried secrets come to light - until finally, the murderer is revealed...
Originally published in 1933, this is the fifth in Herbrt Maynard Smith's Inspector Frost series.