Inspector George Gently

When the body of missing school-girl, Mary, is discovered in a shallow grave in Pinnock Woods Gently and Bacchus are thrown into the new world of pop and media celebrity. The dead girl’s best friend, Hazel, is the rising star of the popular weekend show ‘Upside Down’, much to the chagrin on its old-timer presenter, Tony.

Gently and his sidekick Bacchus investigate the suspicious death of Gently’s ex-snout, China. The Coroner’s verdict was China was a drunk vagrant who died after a fall. But when Gently speaks to the nurse who tended to him before dying, he gets a very different story – and with her husband a local copper it seems the police are hiding something.