Gil North, vlastním jménem Geoffrey Horne, je britský autor, který se ve své tvorbě zaměřuje na život a společenské poměry v afrických koloniích. Jeho zkušenosti z doby, kdy působil jako státní úředník v Africe, pronikají do jeho románů, kde s citem vykresluje složitosti mezikulturních vztahů a dopady kolonialismu. Northův styl je charakteristický pronikavou psychologií postav a realistickým zobrazením prostředí, které čtenáře vtahuje do pohnutých osudů a morálních dilemat. Jeho díla nabízejí hluboký vhled do lidské povahy v extrémních podmínkách.
When Detective-Sergeant Cluff, on the lookout as ever, overhears a conversation in Gunnarshaw concerning the Amblers' estate in Egilsby, he grows suspicious. But when Colonel Ambler is found dead at the riverside, Cluff - unorthodox as ever - promptly embarks on a fishing trip to investigate, much to the despair of Inspector Mole.
From the shadows of a ginnel, Cluff watches a young woman weeping in Gunnarshaw's busy high street - and wonders why. But when a dead body is discovered in a forest plantation, Cluff calls on his extensive knowledge of Gunnarshaw folk, as well as his instinctive perception of human nature, to uncover a trail of fateful and unrequited love.
An attractive young woman is found dead with a handbag of more money than she would've earned in wages. Sergeant Cluff is bought in to gradually find out the truth about the murder.
Amy Snowden, in middle age, has long since settled into a lonely life in the Yorkshire town of Gunnarshaw, until - to her neighbours' surprise - she suddenly marries a much younger man. Months later, Amy is found dead - apparently by her own hand - and her husband, Wright, has disappeared.
When the police are called to a crime scene at a Gunnarshaw grocer's shop, it looks to be a straightforward case of burglary - but not to Detective-Sergeant Cluff, whose subsequent investigations, following a boy's brutal discovery of a dismembered body on the moors, force him to confront the most gruesome murder he has ever faced.
Gunnarshaw is under siege. A peeping Tom prowls the streets and back yards, peering through windows, the police seemingly helpless to catch him. Then, a body is discovered in the garden of the local school's head teacher, much to the dismay of his well-heeled neighbours.