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Synopsis
When a famed Oxford historian is found dead in his study one night, all evidence points to his son, Stephen. About to be disinherited from the family fortune, Stephen returns to home after a long estrangement — and it happens to be the night his father is shot to death. When his fingerprints are found on the murder weapon, Stephen’s guilt seems undeniable. But there were five other people in the manor house at the time, and as their stories slowly emerge — along with the revelation that the deceased man was involved in a deadly hunt for a priceless relic in Northern France at the end of World War II — the race is on to save Stephen from a death sentence.
Everyone has a motive, and no one is telling the truth.
Unwilling to sit by and watch the biased judge condemn Stephen to death, an ageing police inspector decides to travel from England to France to find out what really happened in that small French village in 1945 — and what artifact could be so valuable it would be worth killing for.
Publishers Weekly
Set in 1959, Tolkien's strong if somewhat formulaic legal thriller, his second after The Final Witness, centers on the trial at London's Old Bailey of Stephen Cade, who stands accused of murdering his Oxford historian father. The evidence against Cade is overwhelming. After learning that he was about to be disinherited, Cade sought out his father, from whom he'd long been estranged, and argued with him. The police found his fingerprints on the gun used in the killing. The investigating officer, Det. Insp. William Trave, questions the accused's guilt, despite the case's prosecutor urging him not to “muddy the water.” The truth may lie in Normandy, where the older Cade was involved in an incident that left several French civilians dead toward the end of WWII. While Tolkien, the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, could've done a better job of hiding the clues pointing to the real culprit, fans of English courtroom dramas will be satisfied. (Apr.)