A fine and private place - Freda Davies

Back in 1940s wartime Gloucestershire, a young GI stationed at the village of Tolland disappears and it is presumed that he has simply deserted. Fifty years later a man's skeleton is unearthed bearing the GI's name on his dogtag. In the search for his killer another victim is unearthed, yet it transpires that this was no innocent but a blackmailer - but of whom, and for what reason, is still a mystery. For the inhabitants of Tolland it means the presence of police and reporters, unwelcome for those with long-kept and more recent secrets. Keith Tyrell, the fast-track DI does his best to get behind the skin of the village and its ways and very soon uncovers the killer of the GI. Although the murderer has been dead for many years the repercussions of that untimely death are still felt by some of the village's present-day inhabitants - what will happen when the identity of the blackmailer is eventually revealed?