When a field archaeologist is clubbed to death with a stone axe, who better to step into his boots than Dr Jeffrey Flint?
Flint is invited to oversee an excavation on the grounds of northern England’s historic Shadesmoor Castle. In normal circumstances, anti-establishment Flint would reject such an offer. It’s 1991 and the site is being developed into an American-style amusement park.
However, there is the chance for a promotion – the project boasts the chance for an appointment as a university lecturer. Assisted by the brutally pragmatic Tyrone Drake, Flint has not only to excavate a site, but must also dig his way out of a morass of intrigue and corruption.
His prime suspect is the developer of Shadesmoor: but all of the evidence points in a different direction altogether. Can Flint solve the murder at Shadesmoor Castle?
The 2024 edition comes with a new author’s note on the changing world of archaeology in the 1990s.