A rare week off with his family is rudely interrupted when Slider is called in to investigate the murder of an elderly man, bashed on the head with a bronze statuette, in what Doc Cameron describes as 'our old friend the Frenzied Attack'.

Lionel Bygod, retired solicitor, was an old-fashioned gentleman, a pillar of society, who gave advice and help to all, from the highest to the lowest. But as Slider and his team investigate, they discover dark secrets at the heart of this mild and kindly man's life. Shadows from the past - professional enemies - long-incubated revenge: what was it that sparked such unquenchable fury? The trail is old and cold, and Slider's on the clock . . .