Amateur detective Charles de Lacy is drawn into a case of gangland intrigue when he agrees to meet his old sparring partner, DS Susan McIntyre. McIntyre reveals the recent deathbed confession of a prominent former criminal, an associate of notorious North London family the Whadcoats. It seems there is a body buried in a field just outside London - the victim of a gang execution in the 1970s - but on examination the story seems impossible. De Lacy investigates - with dramatic unforeseen results . . .