Clifford Witting’s second Inspector Charlton mystery, first published in 1937, is set in Paulsfield (clearly a fictionalized Petersfield in Hampshire). It is a market day and there is much noise and bustle. A bull decides it is time to liberate itself and goes on the rampage. As this is happening, a cleaner working on the statue in the middle of the square is shot dead, straight through the head.

Inspector Charlton has very few leads on this case. There is no obvious motive for the cleaner’s death. When two further murders are committed within the same day, both taking place in the market square, the mystery has obviously deepened exponentially.