It began with the theatre – and ended with drugs, blackmail and a decades old crime…Classic crime from one of the greats of the Detection Club Major John Hillier is found dead in his flat, early one morning, in strange circumstances. Inspector Field traces the dead man’s last movements and learns that, after breaking up a dinner party, he visited a remote suburban theatre to see a leading lady he didn’t even know by sight.Field traces the Major’s history back some years and finds himself entangled in a net of underworld intrigue in England and further afield. Drugs, blackmail and a crime years old all play their part in an affair that starts to attract wide attention.