Sex, mystery and religion combine in this powerful novel. Set in outer London of the mid-1960's, at the beginning of the sexual revolution, the plot concerns a police officer investigating the murder of his own mistress, and two clergymen who find that his attitudes threaten their beliefs. Hoping that he will face the consequences of his casual involvement, they collude in a revenge action that leads to a surprising and terrifying denouement. The novel has been described as 'what might have emerged if Dorothy L Sayers and Charles Williams had combined'; or again, as 'a blend of Dostoyevsky with Graham Greene' -- comparisons that do justice to the book's narrative verve and psychological depth, yet miss its macabre humour.