George Lassiter is destitute, ill and desperate. Desperate enough to break into the kitchen of a stranger's house for warmth, food and shelter. And there, on that bitterly cold night in 1922, he witnesses a murder, the murder of a beautiful girl. But where's the body? When the police search the house they find nothing. It's vanished, as if by magic. It's nothing but a hallucination born of delirium, say the police. And reluctantly, George is forced to agree. Even his friend and rescuer Jack Haldean believes it's a nightmare but the consequences of that nightmare will plunge Jack into a tangle of theft, lies and obsession as George hunts for his inheritance - and Jack hunts a ruthless killer. Praise for Dolores Gordon-Smith: 'A classic post-war country house mystery with a Christie-like denoument' - Kirkus reviews. 'Recaptures the vitality and insouciance of the Golden Age writers' - Robert Barnard. 'Gordon-Smith's clean-cut hero plays a straight bat...to be read while eating strawberries and listening to a brass band' - "Saga Magazine". 'A spectacular debut...Jack Haldean is a very welcome addition to the annals of crime fiction...Mrs Gordon-Smith is at the beginning of a distinguished career as a crime writer' - "Tangled Web".