World War II continues to rage on, and Inspector Alleyn continues to act as the Special Branch's eyes and ears in New Zealand. While his primary brief is spy-catching, he is happy to lend a hand in matters of old-fashioned policing, and that's exactly what the Flossie Rubrick case initially appears to be. A highly opinionated and influential Member of Parliament, Ms. Rubrick was also the wife of a sheep farmer, and she was last seen heading off to one of his storage sheds. Three weeks later, she has turned up—very dead, and packed in a bale of her own wool. Had she made political enemies? Had a mysterious legacy prompted her death? Or—as Alleyn increasingly thinks likely—could the shadowy world of international espionage have intruded, improbably, on this sheep farm in the back of beyond?
Description:
World War II continues to rage on, and Inspector Alleyn continues to act as the Special Branch's eyes and ears in New Zealand. While his primary brief is spy-catching, he is happy to lend a hand in matters of old-fashioned policing, and that's exactly what the Flossie Rubrick case initially appears to be. A highly opinionated and influential Member of Parliament, Ms. Rubrick was also the wife of a sheep farmer, and she was last seen heading off to one of his storage sheds. Three weeks later, she has turned up—very dead, and packed in a bale of her own wool. Had she made political enemies? Had a mysterious legacy prompted her death? Or—as Alleyn increasingly thinks likely—could the shadowy world of international espionage have intruded, improbably, on this sheep farm in the back of beyond?