"The long-awaited sixth installment in the Inspector Hal Challis series set in Australia, available in the United States at last! Hal Challis is in trouble at home and abroad: dressed down by the boss for speaking out about police budget cuts; missing his lover, Ellen Destry, who is overseas on a study tour. But there's plenty to keep his mind off his problems. A rapist in a police uniform stalks Challis's Peninsula beat, there is a serial armed robber...

Inspector Hal Challis is in bed with Sergeant Ellen Destry when he gets a telephone call informing him that a man has been beaten nearly to death. Challis has been notified because the victim is the chaplain at a prestigious boarding school and has ties to powerful local politicians. It turns out that he is also the head of a fundamentalist church. Before Challis can complete his investigation, another, seemingly unrelated, crime occurs. A distraught...