Death in High Circles — Andrea Frazer

There is mischief afoot in the village of Fallow Fold. In the course of just one night, person or persons unknown have been on a spree of vandalism, scratching car paintwork, smashing colourful pots of flowers in full bloom, breaking greenhouse windows and defiling a front door with a racist word, written in spray paint. The police are called, and DI Harry Falconer and DS Davey Carmichael, in the unavailability of less senior personnel, arrive to investigate, but there are no obvious suspects. Then a resident is attacked and knocked senseless as he keeps a nocturnal vigil, hoping to catch whoever is responsible, in the act. These are just the preliminary events, before there is a surfeit of uncharacteristic behaviour from those who live there, and Falconer begins to suspect that there is more to come. When a man who runs the local Bridge Circle seems to disappear, leaving behind him only a senseless note, there is a palpable whiff of evil in the air, which leads to a murderous attack on one of the police officers. This is a time when DI Falconer is forced to search his soul, about what, and who, are important in his life, and this leads to an alteration in his view of life, and what really matters in it.