Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard has always been cautious about writers and journalists—yet he couldn’t refuse Lavinia Fitch’s invitation to a seaside village favored by London’s bohemian crowd. Very soon, a peaceful—though somewhat dull—holiday is interrupted by a mysterious crime. Leslie Searle, a handsome photographer, disappears without a trace, and the local police immediately accuse of murder Walter Whitmore, a young radio host. At first glance, it’s hard to argue with the conclusions of the provincial lawmen. Didn’t Searle try to steal Whitmore’s fiancée? Didn’t the two argue? And finally, wasn’t Whitmore the last person who saw Searle alive?
However, Alan Grant is convinced: Walter is the last person you should suspect. Milford is a quiet provincial town in England, where nothing ever happens. So the statement of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl—that she was kidnapped, beaten, and kept for a month in an attic—shocked the locals to the core. The police took her testimony, in which she describes the room where she was held in very detailed terms, even down to the crack in a round window. But is her story true? After all, the alleged kidnapper Marion Sharpe and her elderly mother claim they never saw this girl. Someone is lying. But who? Lawyer Robert Blair undertakes the impossible task: he must prove the women are innocent.