If you were to guess how a womanising, middle-aged brewer was murdered, you might say he was shot by a jealous husband or drowned in his own beer - not savaged by a horse. The strange death of Charles Berney, savaged and trampled to death by a horse on a windswept stretch of moorland, came as he had apparently settled down with an attractive young wife and was concentrating on developing his business. He may have argued with his wife at her birthday...

When an old man is found dead at the foot of the staircase in his rambling old house, a hint of murder and the lure of hidden treasure draw Gently into the case. Gently has plenty of suspects for the old man's murder. A warehouse watchman across the street misses nothing that goes on at the house, but can shed no light on the murderer. A local antiques dealer knows a suspicious amount about the house and a good deal more about the treasure that is...

When Chief Inspector Gently arrived in Starmouth, the 'body on the beach murder' was already the topic of conversation for the massed holiday-makers. First published in 1956, this was the 2nd of Alan Hunter's series of crime novels featuring George Gently.

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing - that's if you call having too many potential murder suspects a good thing. What George Gently has to work out is which of them had the cold blooded nerve to smash the victim's skull and dump him in the river.