A detective novel in the tradition of classic whodunnits. An Edinburgh publisher is murdered in an apparently motiveless crime in an office where the window is fastened and the door locked on the inside. Two possible clues are the wrong date on the desk calendar and the piece of plastic found in the dead man's hand. When the firm's accountant is killed at the wake, DCI Ian Forsyth solves the mysteries in masterly fashion by the use of logical deduction. The story is told by Forsyth's put-upon sergeant, Alistair MacRae