Based on a true story, this novel tells of sexual obsession, bigamy, amorality, and a brutal unsolved murder -- a distinguished thriller-with-knobs-on. It is 1917. George Shotton, a marine surveyor, has escaped active service in the war but is trapped in a loveless (for him), sexless (for her) marriage to churchy, frigid May. No wonder his eye wanders -- it has before. But this time, his lust will have terrible consequences. Mamie Stuart, the object of his affections, is a girl of her time: Sunderland-born, living a louche life in London's Notting Hill Gate, she has been 'on the stage', and is definitely naughty. George wants much more than naughtiness -- but, then, so does Mamie. Why, she wonders, won't George marry her? (She knows nothing of May.) Why, May wonders, is George away so much? Why has he stopped pestering her in bed? (She knows nothing of Mamie.) The violent death which is inevitable causes waves which reach the 1960s, when a detective (with much in common with George) begins to delve into an old and ghastly crime.