Lord Peter Wimsey could imagine the artist stepping back, the stagger, the fall, down to where the pointed rocks grinned like teeth. But was the death of the abrasive landscape painter Campbell a tragic accident-or a meticulously planned murder?In the close-knit artists' colony of Kirkcudbright, Galloway, six painters do not regret the death of the abrasive Campbell. Each had motive. Each had opportunity. Each has an alibi. Five of them are red herrings. A forged painting. A stolen bicycle. A body that tells a very different story. In this masterwork of deductive reasoning and atmospheric Scottish mystery, Wimsey must untangle a web of ironclad alibis, railway timetables, and local secrets - before a clever killer escapes without a trace.

Dorothy L Sayers