Publisher's Synopsis
News of Stephanie Collins' imminent arrival in Meadowbank preceded her. A number of people who had known her and had valid reasons to view her return, after an absence of ten years, with distaste and trepidation were quick to assume she was back for good. When, shortly after booking into The Royal Oak Hotel, her body was found outside the grounds, Chief Inspector Brenda Masters' first task was to unravel the intricacies of the various relationships of those names which had been linked with that of the dead woman. This was not the first time Meadowbank had been the centre of a murder enquiry; several of the locals still felt uneasy about how, six months earlier, their taken-for-granted and predictable lives had been disturbed and now, with this latest shocking incident, they realised once again their town would be in the media spotlight. From the start of their investigation, the Chief Inspector, together with Inspector Ian Ash, found there was no shortage of suspects, each of them with an equally strong motive for wanting Stephanie Collins permanently off the scene, but most of them appeared to have foolproof alibis. A second murder within a matter of days did assist in narrowing them down; but it wasn't sufficient; they needed more evidence. The build-up of doubt and suspicion continues as many of the residents of Meadowbank, congregating daily in either The Market Inn or The Bridge Inn, and eager to contribute and share some of the so-called limelight, begin concocting exagerated and unlikely solutions, all of which being avidly overheard and absorbed by the members of the press who had descended on the town. Brenda Masters and Ian Ash dilligently and systematically wade through a mixture of truths and half-truths, but before they are able to reach an acceptable conclusion, another further development creates additional complications to their enquiry.
