"Why is this decent country and my family's home asked to tolerate the presence of an obscene infection like this man?"
Lady Lanivet is worried. Why has her brother Sir James, Squire of the West Country coastal town of Bosenna, invited the objectionable Albert Tenterton to his shooting party? Tenterton is well-known in City circles as a swindler and thief - and Sir James himself has recently been a victim of one of his schemes. Keen to ferret out the mystery of the man's relationship with her brother, Lady Lanivet follows the recommendation of the local vicar and calls in discreet City detective Philip Tolefree. At first, Tolefree detects nothing more than an uneasy aura of close-knit conspiracy. But when he and his associate Farrar are shot at in the woods, he fears something more sinister is afoot - and with the appearance of a body on Sir James's tennis court his worst suspicions are confirmed...
Originally published in 1938, this is a vintage murder mystery from the golden age of crime fiction.