Wycliffe and the scapegoat - W. J. Burley

Each year, at Halloween, high on the Cornish cliffs, a life-sized effigy of a man was strapped to a blazing wheel and run into the sea--a re-enactment of hideous old legend where the figure had been a living sacrifice.

And now Jonathon Riddle, well-known and respected local builder and undertaker, had disapeared, and it seemed all too likely that his corpse had gone the way of the historic 'scapegoat'.

As Chief Superintendent Wycliffe began to investigate the family life of Riddle, more and more unpleasant facts began to emerge until he was left with an incredible and seemingly impossible solution.