Dark rituals, the smell of burning rubber, a bowl of human blood, a high-class call girl, a dead New Guinea tribal chief, a homosexual marriage - these are just a few of the unnerving ingredients in one of Detective Superintendent Jimmy Pibble's strangest and most frightening cases. Skillfully weaving through twists of plot and a maze of anthropological intrigue, Peter Dickinson leads you to a climax of stark terror.