The head of a school for difficult children is bludgeoned to death and a black teenager is arrested and charged. DCI Michael Thackeray has been away while the murder was apparently cleared up and he has no reason to believe anything other than justice is being done when he returns home to Bradfield. But his girlfriend, reporter Laura Ackroyd and her doughty grandmother feel differently and friends of the suspected boy are busy organising a campaign to free Stevie Fletcher almost before Thackeray has got his feet back under his desk. When it’s alleged that his replacement is being acused of racism as well as cutting corners in the investigation, Thackeray has to take notice. And he and Laura soon find themselves threatened personally and professionally as some of their colleagues begin to fight back by fair means or foul.
