Inspector Trave and Detective Clayton

When an eminent art historian is found dead in his study, all the evidence points to his estranged son, Stephen. With his fingerprints on the murder weapon, Stephen's guilt seems undeniable. As the police begin to question five other people who were in the house at the time, it is revealed that Stephen's father was involved at the end of World War II in a deadly hunt for a priceless relic in northern France, and the case begins to unravel.

David Swain is two years into his life sentence for murdering the lover of his ex-girlfriend, Katya Osman. In the dead of night, he escapes from prison. Hours later, Katya is found murdered in her uncle's home, Blackwater Hall. Having first brought Swain to justice two years earlier, Inspector Trave of the Oxford police heads the manhunt. Once Swain is recaptured and put on trial for his life, a guilty verdict seems guaranteed.

It’s 1940, and Bill Trave is a Detective Constable in his early 30s working in West London. France has fallen and the capital is being bombed both day and night - it seems against all odds that Britain can survive the onslaught. Almost single-handedly Winston Churchill maintains the country’s morale, with the German enemy convinced that his removal would win them the War. Albert Morrison, a rich widower forced into early retirement by failing eyesight, is stabbed to death in his Chelsea flat.