The First World War detective series featuring Detective Inspector Hardcastle On the eve of the Great War in 1914, a body is found in the lake in St James's Park. What at first appears to be a robbery becomes more complex when it is discovered that the victim is a servant at one of London's prestigious gentlemen's clubs. But Hardcastle's enquiries reveal that the club's members - and some of its staff - are not all they purport to be. Discovering thieves, adulterers and a blackmailer along the way, and in the face of lack of cooperation and attempts to prevent him uncovering the truth, the persistent Detective Inspector eventually makes an arrest.