When Mike Malone is called upon to investigate the murder of a cow which has been hanged from a tree, he hopes that this is just a prank that has gone seriously wrong. However, when the mutilated body of a young girl is found, he knows that once again he will have to drag the crime-board up from the basement. As the riddle of the nursery rhyme proves difficult to understand, all of Mike's powers of deduction are put to the test. This novel, which is the third in the Mike Malone series, is once again a light-hearted romp through rural Lincolnshire and many of the familiar faces from the previous novels return. DS Alan Shepherd faithfully assists his boss in finding the serial killer behind the deaths of cows and girls but this time there is not a custard cream in sight.