The Body Politic — Catherine Aird

Peter Corbishley, MP from a placid rural district, is startled to find his amicable speech repeatedly interrupted by a heckler suggesting that he "drop dead." But the Member has a more serious problem on his hands in the person of constituent Alan Ottershaw, who was involved in an automobile accident while working for an international mining company in the Middle Eastern Sheikhdom of Lasserta.

Now Lasserta is demanding Ottershaw's return to face the local form of punishment--or the giant Anglo-Lasserton Mineral Company will be nationalized. With the terrified constituent demanding protection--and now a heckler calling for Corbishley's own death--the Member is badly shaken up. The the problem seems to be solved with Ottershaw's most timely death, until subsequent inquiry indicates that the demise was not of natural causes.

Called in to investigate, Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan digs up some puzzling information about a reenactment of the Battle of Lewes--the celebrated clash between Henry III and Simon de Montfort in 1264--on the grounds of Mellamby Place, the grandest house in the district. It seems that an unknown player disguised as Death stalked the scene as the medieval battle was replayed and a contemporary drama unfolded. When a second murder follows on the heels of the first, Sloan knows he must discover as quickly as possible just who is playing Death.