Murder pays no respect to rank...or the neighborhood. And so it happened that young aristocrat Timothy Wycliffe was bludgeoned to death in his elegantly furnished flat in Belgravia by a person or persons unknown. Unknown, in fact, for 30 years.Then the dead man's friend Peter Proctor -- once a young man on his way up in the diplomatic service, now a retired Member of Parliament -- seeks an antidote to boredom by attempting to write his own memoirs. Unfortunately, they seem to be creating more problems than he anticipated, and not just of the writer's-block variety. Peter keeps getting sidetracked by speculations on Timothy's death. The murder was allegedly accomplished by a beating from one of his boyfriends. But Peter can't accept so simple a solution, so he begins to probe the past. In so doing, he opens a fascinating window on British society during the 1950s and its changing -- and unchanging -- mores since.

Author Biography

Born in Essex, England, and educated at the Royal Grammar School in Colchester, and Balliol College in Oxford, Robert Barnard spent a number of years as a distinguised academic while making himself known as a delightful crime writer. He has won the Cartier Diamond Dagger, Britain's prestigious mystery award, the Nero Wolfe Award, the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, the Macavity Award, and the Golden Handcuffs Award. He is an eight-time nominee for the Edgar, and a present member of Britain's Detection Club. Barnard lives with his wife Louise in Yorkshire, England, the general location for many of his novels.