A piercing scream shattering the evening calm brings Superintendent AdamDalgliesh hurrying from his literary party to the nearby Steen PsychiatricClinic where h... » 

A piercing scream shattering the evening calm brings Superintendent AdamDalgliesh hurrying from his literary party to the nearby Steen PsychiatricClinic where he discovers the body of a woman sprawled on the basement floora chisel thrust through her heart. As Dalgliesh probes beneath the apparentlyunruffled calm of the clinic he discovers that many an intrigue lies hiddenbehind the Georgian terraces unassuming facade. Professionally he has neverknown the taste of failure. Now for the first time he feels unsure of his ownmastery as he battles to unmask a cool killer who is proving to be hisintellectual equal and who is poised to strike again. «