Ian Sansom

Swanton Morley, the People’s Professor, sets off for Devon to continue his 'County Guides'. He has been invited to give the Founder’s Day speech at All Souls School, but when he arrives he discovers that a boy has died in mysterious circumstances. Was it an accident or was it – murder?

Israel (a vegetarian, Jewish, librarian) finds himself living in an old mobile library in Northern Ireland when his new job falls through: the library has been shut down and 15,000 books are missing. Israel wants to know where they are, and where can he get a decent cappuccino?

It is 1937 and disillusioned Spanish Civil War veteran Stephen Sefton sees a mysterious advertisement for a job where 'intelligence is essential'. Thus begins Sefton’s association with Professor Swanton Morley. When the vicar of Blakeney is found hanging from his church’s bellrope, Morley and Sefton find themselves drawn into a fiendish plot.

5th November 1937, Morley, Miriam and Sefton find themselves caught up in the celebrations and the chaos. On the morning after the night before, Sefton goes for a swim in Pells Pool, the oldest freshwater lido in England – in the very centre of Lewes – where he discovers a woman’s body. She has drowned. Is it a misadventure or could it be … murder?