A murdered stranger in his home wood...

The discovery of a naked corpse upsets the new Viscount Petteril's return to his ancestral acres. The local magistrate, Robert Lindon, has no idea how to proceed with so heinous a crime. Neither has Petteril, but curiosity compels him to help – with the aid of his fearless new assistant April, struggling to find her feet in this rich new world, and yet invaluable to more than the investigation.

Identifying the corpse is difficult enough. Suspecting that the culprit is one of the local gentry, some of whom were Petteril's boyhood friends, is harder still. Could it be the aristocratic fortune hunter betrothed to Lindon's daughter? Or, as everyone would prefer, Brandy Bill, the highwayman still hiding out in the nearby town?