The report from New Scotland Yard of the escalating thefts of drugs from pharmacies in the south of England reached Chief Inspector Brenda Masters’ desk in Meadowbank at the same time as she heard of Mark Astley’s murder. Mark Astley, originally from Winchester, had a criminal record and after his release from prison moved to Manchester. Once the Manchester authorities found out he had been planning to meet up with friends in Meadowbank the murder enquiry extended to include the Meadowbank constabulary.

When, within a matter of days, news came in of a second murder; this time within the Meadowbank community, the local residents prepared themselves for the inevitable media attention, all too reminiscent of what they had been subjected to earlier in the year. It wasn’t until the body of a third victim occurred that Brenda Masters, along with Inspector Ian Ash, was able to recognise a connecting link between all of the crimes. As far as they were concerned, Charlie East’s name was cropping up far too often for them to ignore. On checking his background, it was found he has in the past always succeeded in neatly extricating himself from a criminal situation, but now with evidence rapidly beginning to build-up against him concerning the acquisition and distribution of drugs in close proximity to where he had recently moved, namely Meadowbank ; a small market town on the edge of the River Test, it now seemed likely Charlie East’s number may be up at last, but the crucial question facing Brenda Masters was whether he was also a murderer.

The link she needed persisted in being elusive until the final solution presented itself from a totally unexpected quarter, making it possible for Brenda and Ian, with the help and support from New Scotland Yard and her counter-part in Winchester, Chief Inspector Gerald Carpenter, to bring the case to a satisfactory and exciting conclusion.