Plot Summary

The victim, a Jew who had survived the holocaust, gets murdered at the harness race track in Peterborough. His friends are war veterans who form an amateur sleuth group to catch the murderer. The police have few clues and give up.

The group is made up of retired men, who would rather spend their time fishing and playing golf than be the only ones to track down the killer. During their search for the murderer, they come up against a clever thief who leads them on a merry but violent chase. This thief is their chief suspect.

Characters

The leader of the group is a well-to-do retired school teacher. Part of the pursuit is experienced at his cottage, where they run up against an unexpected obstacle.

Another of their group, George, is an ex-policeman and a joker who is egged on by the jokes their church secretary unwittingly puts in the church bulletin on Sundays. George provides the comic relief, until they finally solve this puzzling crime.

Robert, the third member of the core group, is an immigrant from Scotland. He flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain and was aloft dogfighting when his family was wiped out by Nazi bombers. He comes to Peterborough to get away.