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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.