When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in north Devon he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hill-top village lying so close to moor and sky. At first they see only its charm but soon they begin to uncover its secrets - envy hatred and malice. Everyone says that Sister Monica warden of a children's home is a saint - but is she? A few months after the Ferens' arrival her body is found drowned in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.

Part of the British Library Crime Classics series.