Detective Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover is the most idle and avaricious hero in all of crime fiction. Why should he even be bothered to solve the case?

Sully Martin had probably been a picturesque English village before the earthquake nearly destroyed it. And construction tycoon Walter Chantry might have been taken for another of the many casualties if it hadn't come out that he had been strangled.

This time Dover is in for much more than his usual share of the bother. For a start, the town's only hotel is unlicensed, and there's not a drop of booze to be had. But almost as alarming are the unmistakable signs that someone is actually out to kill Dover.

Unless, that is, against all odds Dover strikes again.