A brutal murder with a golf club and an ingenious plot bursting with snobbery, suspicion , adultery and secrets - to say nothing of the dreadful crime of catricide...
The lives of the inhabitants of Swevenings are disrupted only by a fierce competition to catch the Old Un, a monster trout known to dwell in a beautiful stream which winds past their homes.
Then one of their small community is found brutally murdered; beside him is the freshly killed trout. Both died by violence - but Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's murder investigation seems to be much more interested in the fish...
The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers - Times Literary Supplement
Excellently characterized, Miss Marsh's best yet. Observer - The detection is first class. The whole affair is written with style and distinction.
BBC - The finest writer in the English languange of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an Empress.
The Sun