Commander Adam Dalgliesh is already acquainted with the Dupayne Museum in Hampstead, and with its sinister murder room celebrating notorious crimes committed in the interwar years, when he is called to investigate the killing of one of the trustees.

Agatha Christie's most audacious crime mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.

Venetia Aldridge QC is a distinguished barrister. When she agrees to defend Garry Ashe, accused of the brutal murder of his aunt, it is one more opportunity to triumph in her career as a criminal lawyer. But just four weeks later, Miss Aldridge is found dead. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to investigate.

A piercing scream brings Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh hurrying from his literary party to the Steen Psychiatric Clinic, where he discovers the body of a woman and a chisel thrust through her heart. As he probes beneath the unruffled calm of the clinic, he discovers that many an intrigue lies hidden behind the Georgian terrace's unassuming facade.

Two men lie in a welter of blood in the vestry of St Matthew's Church, Paddington, their throats brutally slashed. One is Sir Paul Berowne, a baronet and recently resigned Minister of the Crown, the other an alcoholic vagrant. Dalgliesh and his team are faced with a case of great sensitivity and complexity.

When the body of a theology student is found on the East Anglian coast, his wealthy father demands a re-examination of the accidental death verdict. Commander Adam Dalgliesh agrees to help and returns to his childhood haunt only to find himself embroiled in intrigue, conflict and secrets.