Commander Dalgleish of Scotland Yard has just published a new book of poems, and has taken a brief respite from publicity on remote Larksoken headland on the Norfolk coast. But he cannot so easily escape murder.

A psychopathic strangler of young women is at large in Norfolk, and getting nearer to Larksoken with every killing.

When murder reaches the headland one moonlit night, Dalgliesh finds himself involved in a particularly horrible crime and in the tangled emotions and motives of the suspects.

P. D. James, OBE, has won many awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature (USA). She received the Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association, and was created a Life Peer. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors.

Michael Jayston is a highly-regarded actor, having appeared in numerous films, among them Cromwell, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Zulu Dawn and Nicholas and Alexandra.

His many TV credits include The Royal, Doctors, Emmerdale, Murder in Suburbia and Only Fools and Horses, while on stage he has been seen in Henry V and Hamlet for the RSC, as well as Private Lives and The Rivals.