in it evidence that Lady Callender could not have been Mark's mother. Back at the cottage the following night, someone attacks Cordelia, throws her down a well and replaces the cover. She is saved by a combination of her own resourcefulness and the good luck that the cottage owner notices the well has been tampered with. Cordelia in turn lies in wait with Bernie's gun in order to ambush her would-be killer. He turns out to be Sir Ronald's laboratory assistant, Lunn, who had been tailing her during her investigations. However, he escapes in his van, only to die in a collision with a truck. Certain now of her case, Cordelia continues to Sir Ronald's house, where Miss Leaming takes her gun from her and leads her to Sir Ronald. Cordelia privately accuses him of the murder of his son, which he defiantly admits, sure that nothing can be proved against him. Miss Leaming, however, who has overheard him, enters the office and shoots him with Cordelia's gun. Miss Leaming confesses to Cordelia that she was Mark's true mother but was prevented from telling him by Sir Ronald. Lady Callender had been infertile and died shortly after Mark's birth. Sir Ronald had murdered Mark when he was close to discovering the truth, so as not to lose his wife's fortune. Cordelia sympathises with Miss Leaming and the two rearrange the crime scene to look like yet another suicide and it is accepted as such by the coroner. The case, however, is referred to Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh, who had been Bernie Pryde’s commander originally and then sacked him. Word arrives during their interview that Leaming has been killed in a car crash, allowing Cordelia to maintain the fiction they concocted together. Dalgliesh admits to Cordelia, based on his observation of her abilities, that perhaps he had underrated Pryde. He also believes that he has worked out the true facts of the case, but in private conference with his superiors says there is little point in disturbing the official story in view of the social and international pressures on the police. Cordelia returns resignedly to the agency and finds her next client waiting, a man who believes his 'lady friend' might be cheating on him. Literary significance and criticism The New York Times judged the book "A top-rated puzzle of peril that holds you all the way", whose characters "are anything