It’s high summer in Oxford. The university vacation has just begun. The eight governors of the Moneybuckle Endowment (an architectural library) are assembling at All Saints College for the annual dinner before their meeting under chairman Mark Treasure, merchant banker. The talk at the table is of some pricey sketches said to be by Constable, and an offer from a dealer in the town. But the talk turns to shock when murder’s done in Walton Street with the sketches as the obvious motive. The police are quick to make an arrest, but Treasure is sure they’ve got the wrong suspect-even though all other likely culprits are Moneybuckle governors, or Moneybuckle’s custodian himself.

‘As nifty a puzzle as clever Williams has yet devised, redolent with the reddest of herrings.’ Sunday Times

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