For Dorothea Cassidy Thursdays were special. Every week she wouldlook forward to the one day she could call her own, and would plan tovisit people she wanted to see as a welcome respite from the routineduties that being a vicar’s wife entailed. But one Thursday in June wasto be more special than any other. It was the day that Dorothea Cassidywas strangled.As the small town of Otterbridge prepares for itssummer carnival, Inspector Stephen Ramsay begins a painstakingreconstruction of Dorothea’s last hours. He soon discovers that she hadtaken on a number of deserving cases – a sick and lonely old woman, adisturbed adolescent, a compulsive gambler, a single mother with aviolent boyfriend and a child in care – and even her close family havetheir secrets to hide. All these people are daunted, in one way oranother, by Dorothea’s goodness. But which of them could have possiblywanted her dead?It is not until a second body is discoveredthat Ramsay starts to understand how Dorothea lived – and why she died.With the carnival festivities in full swing and dusk failing inOtterbridge, Ramsay’s murder investigation reaches its chilling climax .. .